India vs Australia: Kapil Dev Downplays Pujara’s Absence in BGT 2024-25, Urges Focus on Present Team

Former India captain and 1983 World Cup winner Kapil Dev brushed aside concerns over Cheteshwar Pujara’s exclusion from India’s squad for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25. Kapil stressed that the focus should remain on the players selected for the series rather than those left out.

Cheteshwar Pujara last represented India in the ICC World Test Championship final in 2023. Despite strong performances in domestic and County cricket since then, his return to the national side seems unlikely. About this exclusion, Kapil said:

Whatever the best team you have, you are making them play, and that’s it. One can then ask whether India needs players like Sunil Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar. Why not Don Bradman for Australia? Why talk about the people who are not in the team?

Pujara’s absence is noteworthy considering his historic contributions during India’s previous Test triumphs in Australia. He scored 521 runs in the 2018-19 series and 271 runs during the 2020-21 series, both of which were pivotal in India’s back-to-back victories. Also in the absence of the regular captain, Jasprit Bumrah is handling the role of skipper in the Perth test match and the former Indian skipper remarked on this:

He should stay as normal as possible and not look to do something extra. He should go with the flow, and over some time, he will learn. It’s unfair to say, ‘What more can he do?’ I don’t expect anything beyond what he encounters. Let the contest begin, and he will find his way. We must not burden him with expectations.

India heads into the first Test without key players Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill, raising the stakes for Bumrah’s leadership debut in Perth.