AHMEDABAD: For the first time in his career, veteran India batsman Cheteshwar Pujara has decided to skip the upcoming Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy. The 35-year-old’s name was missing from the Saurashtra squad which was announced on Wednesday by the Saurashtra Cricket Association.
"I am skipping the Mushtaq Ali Trophy since I have been playing a lot of cricket lately but I will start playing from next month onwards," Pujara told TOI. "He expressed his unwillingness to play in the tournament," said SCA president Jaydev Shah.
Though he played 105 Tests for India, in which he scored 7,195 runs@43.60, Pujara's white-ball career never took-he played just five ODIs. In 71 T20s, he scored 1556 runs@29.35, with one hundred and nine fifties.
Recently, Pujara's former India teammate Shikhar Dhawan took a playful dig at him when the Saurashtra man was preparing for the Irani Trophy clash in Rajkot.
"Bhai bas kar youngster ko bhi khelne de ab. Irani se Tere liye Naani Trophy ho gayi hai," Dhawan had commented on a video that Pujara shared on Instagram, in which he was seen batting ahead of Saurashtra’s game against Rest of India. Saurashtra is in Group A and shall play league matches at Ranchi from 16th October 2023 onwards. Other teams in the group are Gujarat, Punjab, Arunachal Pradesh, Andhra, Goa, Manipur and Railways.
Saurashtra squad: Jaydev Unadkat (Captain), Sheldon Jackson, Harvik Desai, Prerak Mankad, Chirag Jani, Dhramendrasinh Jadeja, Jay Gohil, Parth Bhut, Samarth Vyas, Vishvarajsinh Jadeja, Yuvrajsinh Jadeja, Tarang Gohel, Kushang Patel, Sammar Gajjar, Hetvik Kotak, Adityasinh Jadeja, Pranav Karia.
