Veteran Indian batter Cheteshwar Pujara became the first casualty of the BCCI's potential transition plan as far as the Test team is concerned, following the World Test Championship (WTC) final debacle. Pujara, despite his two consecutive successful County stints, flattered to deceive at the highest level as he was on the receiving end for poor shot-making and lack of footwork against the moving ball against Australia at the Oval. Consequently, he was dropped from the Test squad for the West Indies series.
Similarly, the No. 1 T20I batter in the world, Suryakumar Yadav also faced the axe after being part of the Test squad for the Border-Gavaskar series and the WTC final, as a standby. Now both Surya and Pujara have been added to the West Zone squad for Duleep Trophy as two opening batters Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ruturaj Gaikwad have been called up to the main squad for West Indies Tests next month.
Jaiswal, who is coming off a sensational season both in domestic cricket as well as in the IPL, is enjoying his time in the sun and is likely to be given the No. 3 spot while Gaikwad played a huge part in Chennai Super Kings' 5th title win, scoring 590 runs in IPL 2023.
Pujara, who opened for India in the rescheduled Test against England at Edgbaston last year in the absence of skipper Rohit Sharma, is likely to partner Priyank Panchal at the top for West Zone. Duleep Trophy is set to begin on June 28 with the summit clash to take place on July 12 in Bangalore.
West Zone squad: Priyank Panchal (Captain), Cheteshwar Pujara, Suryakumar Yadav, Harvik Desai (wicketkeeper), Prithvi Shaw, Het Patel (wicketkeeper), Sarfaraz Khan, Arpit Vasavada, Atit Seth, Shams Mulani, Yuvraj Dodiya, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja, Chetan Sakariya, Chintan Gaja, Arzan Nagwaswalla.
