India vs England: Virender Sehwag’s tweet on Cheteshwar Pujara reignites selection debate

Virender Sehwag believes that India should give Cheteshwar Pujara a chance in the second Test match at Lord’s and he expressed his opinion on Twitter.

cricket Updated: Aug 06, 2018 16:52 IST
Cheteshwar Pujara should be included in the second Test between India and England, according to Virender Sehwag.(AP)

The exclusion of Cheteshwar Pujara from the Indian cricket team ahead of the first Test match against England at Edgbaston was a highly debated topic among fans and experts alike.

The discussion intensified after the match as the top-order batsmen were unable to perform well and the visitors slumped to a 31-run defeat.

Former opener Virender Sehwag believes that India should give Pujara a chance in the second Test match at Lord’s and he expressed his opinion on Twitter.

On Monday, Sehwag wrote this on the social networking site: “Pope likely to play for England, Should India play Pujara in the second test? After all it’s Lords.”

Cheteshwar Pujara is a well-established Test batsman and with 4531 runs from 58 matches, he has quite a good record when it comes to the longest format of the game.

During the 2014 series against England, Pujara had a comparatively better run than some of his teammates as he scored 222 runs in 5 matches with two half centuries – one of them coming at Lord’s which will be the venue for the second Test.

The England cricket team has called up uncapped batsman Ollie Pope and Chris Woakes to replace Dawid Malan and Ben Stokes respectively.

Ben Stokes will miss the second Test due to his ongoing trial while Malan scored 28 runs across both innings as the hosts defeated India in the first Test.

The 30-year-old also dropped a chance to dismiss Virat Kohli in the first innings and the visitors’ skipper went on to score 149.

First Published: Aug 06, 2018 16:47 IST