Without Cheteshwar Pujara, India will struggle in BGT 2024-25, warns ex-Pakistan star and makes shocking claim

Cheteshwar Pujara last played a Test match for India in the WTC 2023 final at The Oval in London. The defeat was the last time that he represented India in the longest format.

The veteran of 103 Test matches for India was a regular in the batting order for India till the last World Test Championship campaign. However, with India looking forward to the future, the likes of Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane were dropped from the Indian Test side.

Ahead of yet another important Test cricket season for India, former Pakistan cricketer Basit Ali has opened the debate about the recall of Pujara into the side. He had previously spoken about why Pujara was not picked in the Duleep Trophy 2024. Basit opined that Pujara would have been a handy batter for the 2024-25 Australia tour had he been kept in contention for a place in the Test team.

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The BCCI, on Wednesday, August 14, named the four squads for the first round of Duleep Trophy 2024, which will be played from September 5. Apart from Cheteshwar Pujara, there was no place for the likes of Ajinkya Rahane, Sanju Samson, and Rinku Singh in the teams.

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Meanwhile, In a video shared on Hafiz Muhammad Imran's YouTube channel, the former Pakistan batter has warned India, saying that their batting lineup will look very weak in Australia, especially with the absence of Cheteshwar Pujara.

He further said that without Cheteshwar Pujara, the Indian batting would heavily depend on the likes of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli to score runs against Australia.

Against Australia, Cheteshwar Pujara has good numbers scoring 2074 runs in 25 Test matches at an average of 49.38 with five hundreds and 11 fifties.

Basit Ali Backs Cheteshwar Pujara's Selection For Australia Tour

"Not picking the likes of Pujara and Rahane in the Duleep Trophy squads is a signal that had they performed, they would have been eligible to be considered for selection for the Test series at home against Bangladesh and New Zealand and also against Australia," said the 53-year-old Basit Ali.

"Without Cheteshwar Pujara, the Indian batting lineup will face problems in Australia. If Pujara travels with the side, India have a good chance to win the series and complete a hat-trick. If he does not go to Australia, the Indian batting will heavily depend on the likes of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli," Basit Ali added further.

India have won the last two Test series in Australia in 2019-20 and 2020-21. They now have a chance to register a hat-trick of wins against Australia. Gautam Gambhir and the new support staff will have the challenge of selecting a side that can withstand the bowlers from Australia. Australia's pace trio of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, and Josh Hazlewood are expected to trouble the Indian batters in home conditions.

India plays Test matches against Bangladesh and New Zealand at home before traveling to Australia and thus have a chance to add to their WTC tally and widen the gap of points between them and Australia. As of now, India are topping the WTC points table followed by Australia.

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