Cheteshwar Pujara's enigmatic response to exclusion from India's squad for Australia Test series

Experienced batsman Cheteshwar Pujara has broken his silence with a mysterious tweet after being left out of India's squad for the upcoming five-Test series against Australia beginning on November 22 in Perth. Pujara was instrumental in India's previous two series victories in Australia for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, accumulating 521 runs in four matches, which included three centuries in the 2018-19 series, in addition to 271 runs in the following series. Despite not being able to score as freely in the 2020-21 series, his resilience and determination were crucial in India's triumph in the series with a 2-1 win.

Pujara, who last played for India in the final of last year's World Test Championship, has since been dropped from the Test set-up and is currently piling runs for Saurashtra in the Ranji Trophy and Sussex in the English County Championship. One of the pillars of Indian batting for the better part of the last decade, Pujara found no takers in the Ajit Agarkar-led BCCI selection committee. However, considering India's middle order appears slightly vulnerable, reports of his return gained steam. But when the squad was revealed, Pujara's name went missing.

Finally, four days after the BCCI announced the 18-member list, Pujara took to his social media handles and shared a small clip of him training. "Sore today, strong tomorrow," Pujara captioned the post. A veteran of 103 Tests, Pujara has a fine record against Australia, scoring 993 runs in 11 games at an average of 47.28. He was named Player of the Series during India's historic 2018/19 tour Down Under.

While Pujara is burning up the charts for Saurashtra – he recently pummelled 234 against Chhattisgarh – his replacement at No. 3, Shubman Gill, has blown hot and cold. After scoring a century against Bangladesh in Chennai and 452 runs from four Tests in England earlier this year, Gill has had a very indifferent run in the ongoing series against New Zealand.

As scores of 39, 30 and 23 prove, he has had starts but failed to convert them into big ones, a trait Pujara was a master at. He would grind, grind and grind - his effective footwork against Nathan Lyon in the last two series turned out to be a deal-breaker for India.