Cheteshwar Pujara has made a return to the Indian Test squad a few months after being dropped for the home ICC World Test Championship series against the Sri Lankan cricket team. Veteran players Ajinkya Rahane and Pujara lost their places in the Indian squad for the ICC World Test Championship series against the Sri Lankan cricket team after a string of disappointing performances in the longest format of the game.
Hanuma Vihari and Shreyas Iyer replaced the experienced duo in the series against the Sri Lankan cricket team. Soon after, both players represented their states in Ranji Trophy. Pujara also went to England to play county cricket, and since he piled on heaps of runs, he has been recalled to the Indian squad for the ICC World Test Championship match against the England cricket team, which is scheduled to begin on July 1.
The BCCI announced the squad for that fifth Test match on their official website. Here is the full team:
Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain) Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Cheteshwar Pujara, Rishabh Pant (wk), KS Bharat (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Mohd Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Prasidh Krishna.
Many fans would be wondering the reason why Ajinkya Rahane was not recalled. The reason is that he had been playing for the Kolkata Knight Riders in the 2022 edition of the Indian Premier League, and he suffered a hamstring injury during his stint with KKR, which ruled him out of the England tour.
Fans react as Cheteshwar Pujara returns to the Indian Test squad for the England tour
Fans on Twitter were ecstatic to see Pujara back in the Indian squad because he had been the Wall of the Test team after Rahul Dravid’s retirement.
Here are some of the top Twitter reactions:
A great inclusion.Happy to see his county performance getting recognized. https://t.co/D1LSXxZWX2
Advertisement— Arun Gnanapragasam(Wear 2 😷,Vaccinate) (@Arun_GP) May 22, 2022
Congratulations champ @cheteshwar1 https://t.co/Swux1oM1DH
— Be yourself Every One Else Taken💛 (@Bharu_chirufan) May 22, 2022
Advertisement
This is a full-strength squad of Team India in Test Cricket. We are coming to make it 3-1.
AdvertisementAlso, so happy to see Pujara's name back in the team. He deserves to be in the playing XI for that 5th Test in England. https://t.co/bDhKfMq5B2
— Aditya (@Adityakrsaha) May 22, 2022
Advertisement
Happy about Pujara making a comeback. He is an important character in India's domination of test cricket since 2015, currently on 95 tests, he deserves to play 100 tests. We will move Hanuma Vihari at 5 for the time being. Welcome back Pujji! https://t.co/6vDToDTkqk
Advertisement— Ricky talks Cricket (@CricRicky) May 22, 2022
Cheteshwar pujara back to test squad with his hard work in domestic nd county circuits…
Well Deserved pic.twitter.com/iDnI2BAmCz
Advertisement— Vaibhav (@vabby_16) May 22, 2022
As perfect as it can get.
Pujara making a comeback after scoring big county runs. I just hope that Vihari doesn't get dropped! 🤞🤞
AdvertisementBharat as backup wk.
Prasidh as the next pace bowler off the ranks.
AdvertisementOthers as expected.
Surprisingly nothing to complain about here. https://t.co/ajMqRvUFnI
Advertisement— Cricketjeevi (@wildcardgyan) May 22, 2022
Interesting to see Pujara back. https://t.co/ZB3plcyodX
— Nikhil 🏏 (@CricCrazyNIKS) May 22, 2022
Advertisement
Pujara makes a comeback, he is right there back at no.3.
Advertisement— Jayesh (@Jayesh_45) May 22, 2022
Glad to see Pujara is back, but don't drop catches this time🙏 https://t.co/Eayd8sW7ny
— Srushti (@Srushtipb) May 22, 2022
Advertisement
It will be an interesting call to see who Pujara replaces in the XI. Has to be Shreyas but poor Vihari might be told again to warm the bench.
Advertisement— Saurabh Malhotra (@MalhotraSaurabh) May 22, 2022
