Not Rajat Patidar!! Former Indian cricketer names the best replacement team India could've had for Virat Kohli

Former India cricketer Karsan Ghavri has slammed the national selection panel for ignoring Cheteshwar Pujara as a replacement for Virat Kohli in the ongoing five-match Test series against England. With India’s batting department low on experience in the absence of some senior players, Ghavri stated that the selectors should have picked Cheteshwar Pujara.

Virat Kohli is not available for the entire series due to personal reasons. While he was included in the squad for the first two Tests, he pulled out citing personal reasons before the BCCI announced that he would not be available for the final three games as well.

India are also without KL Rahul for the ongoing third Test. The Karnataka star missed the second Test due to a quadricep injury he sustained in the first Test and failed to recover in time for the Rajkot game.

With the selectors dropping Shreyas Iyer for the last three Tests, the batting department is extremely low on experience. For the ongoing game, Sarfaraz Khan and Dhruv Jurel were handed their debut caps while Rajat Patidar, who made his debut in the second Test, is the other middle-order option.

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Ghavri bats for Cheteshwar Pujara in place of Virat Kohli:

With the lack of experience in the batting department a major concern for Team India, Ghavri has said that Cheteshwar Pujara should have been the ideal replacement for Virat Kohli. The Saurashtra star is one of the most experienced active players in the country at present.

He has played 103 Tests so far with the last one coming in the World Test Championship final last year. At present, he is playing in the Ranji Trophy and has been in good form but could not earn a recall from the Test team. Cheteshwar Pujara has scored 648 runs in six matches so far

“I don’t understand the reason why Cheteshwar Pujara was dropped. He should have been in the Indian team right from the first Test,” Ghavri told PTI.

“At first, Virat Kohli was not playing the first two Tests and now it has been announced that he would not be playing the remaining three Tests. Cheteshwar was not only the greatest replacement but the greatest player they should have included,” added the 72-year-old.

While the selectors have made it clear that they will give youngsters a long rope to settle in international cricket, Ghavri believes the door is still not shut for Cheteshwar Pujara. He stated that a recall for the right-handed batsman would not surprise him, saying:

“He is still fighting, he is still in good form, he is very much in good shape and even if he comes back, I won’t be surprised.”

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