'He isn't the only one not scoring runs' - Former India great unimpressed with dropping Cheteshwar Pujara from Test side

Cheteshwar Pujara (Source: Twitter)

Cheteshwar Pujara, one of the senior players in the Indian Test setup, was dropped from the Indian Test squad that toured West Indies. The middle-order batter had a lean patch in the last few months and the selectors pointed it as the exact reason for dropping the senior out of the team. While many have supported the move from the board, some including Sunil Gavaskar have criticized the board for dropping only Pujara from the squad.

The former Indian spin bowler Harbhajan Singh has given his opinion on the same. The former world champion gave his support to Pujara. "I have a lot of respect for Cheteshwar Pujara for what he has achieved. He has been an unsung hero of the Indian team for many years now. He has been one of those pillars of strength for India, doing the dirty work of hanging in there, making sure other batters got their comfort," said Harbhajan.

'Pujara needs to be given more respect' - Singh

The 2007 T20 World Cup winner also felt that Pujara needs a bit more respect and should not be singled out, as other players have also failed in the team. "I believe he needs to be given a bit more respect than what he has been given and the way he was chucked out of the team was a surprise for me. Because he isn't the only one not scoring runs. There are others as well who play in that same team who are scoring runs at the same average," said the former Indian cricketer.

Harbhajan also supported the way of Pujara’s batting. "In the case of Pujara, we keep hearing about his strike rate of scoring runs in Tests but because of that strike rate, the wickets remain intact and that's a huge contribution. So, you have to see which guy is contributing to what. You need to see how much the team needs him. In my opinion, the team still needs him. When you go abroad (SENA countries), you need one such batter as you can't have everyone playing strokes all the time. You need someone who plays normal Test cricket, just like Cheteshwar Pujara," Harbhajan concluded.