It was expected – Sunil Gavaskar on Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane getting dropped for Sri Lanka Tests

Indian legend Sunil Gavaskar stated that it was expected after Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane were dropped from India’s Test squad for the series against Sri Lanka.

Along with Pujara and Rahane, Wriddhiman Saha and Ishant Sharma were also ignored for the series against the Island nation.

Meanwhile, Rahane and Pujara have been horribly out of form in the last couple of years. Both the veteran batters have failed to deliver the goods and their ouster from the team was always on the cards.

Pujara had scored a last Test hundred back in early 2019 when he scored 193 runs against Australia at the SCG. Since then the right-hander could not get going.

Both of these batters were averaging below 30 in the last few years in Test matches and had let the team down with their performance. In fact, Rahane scored a fine century for Mumbai in Ranji Trophy but it was not enough to save his place in the Test team.

Speaking to Sports Tak, Sunil Gavaskar said: “It was expected. If in the three Tests in South Africa, one of them had hit a century or played an innings of 80-90 runs, then it would have been a different matter.

Yes, Ajinkya Rahane played an attractive knock. But apart from that, there weren’t enough runs from them when it was expected and when the team needed the runs.”

On the other hand, chief selector Chetan Sharma stated that both of these players can come back if they come up with consistent performances in the Ranji Trophy and doors are absolutely open for them. Gavaskar also spoke on the same lines and feels it is not the end of the road for Pujara and Rahane.

“They can come back. Why not? If they show good form in the Ranji Trophy, scoring 200-250 in every Ranji Trophy match, then they can definitely come back. But right now, after this series, India just have a one-off Test with England and then we play Tests only towards the end of the year. So I feel time won’t be on their side,” he said.

“They’ll both be in their mid-30s. And in your mid-30s if you have opened the door for some younger players, and those players grasp their opportunities, then it will be difficult to make a comeback.”

Test squad – Rohit Sharma (C), Priyank Panchal, Mayank Agarwal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Shubhman Gill, Rishabh Pant (wk), KS Bharath, R Jadeja, Jayant Yadav, R Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Sourabh Kumar, Mohd. Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Mohd. Shami, Jasprit Bumrah (VC).

The first Test match will be played in Mohali from March 4.