Aakash Chopra Demands Cheteshwar Pujara's Return To India's Test Squad, Says, 'No One In Team Can Do What He Did'

IND vs NZ, 2nd Test: The Men in Blue were hugely scrutinized for suffering their first home series loss after 12 years. New Zealand hammered India by 113 runs in the second Test match in Pune on Saturday and is leading the three-match Test series by 2-0 with one match remaining.

It was the first time since 2012 that the Rohit Sharma-led side suffered a home Test series loss. This was also the first time that India lost a Test series to New Zealand at home. Speaking about the game, the Indian batters failed to fire again as they couldn't chase down the mammoth target of 359 runs during the second innings and were bundled out for scoring 245 runs.

At the same time, ex-India cricketer Aakash Chopra has reckoned that it is high time that the team management recalled Cheteshwar Pujara from the Test squad and revealed that they are missing his services due to his defensive approach.

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"Are we missing Pujara? It's a big question. As a player, you might say that he would score these many runs and others would also score as many runs, so are you missing him that much? Maybe not, because at some stage you have to move beyond everyone. So you left Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane in such a scenario," Aakash Chopra was quoted as saying on his YouTube channel.

"You got Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant started playing at No. 5. So things changed a lot. Change is the rule of nature but one thing is missing. No one in this team can do what Cheteshwar Pujara used to do. Everyone plays the same brand of cricket, that they would attack and play aggressive cricket, and have nothing to do with a draw as they play like this only. That does not work," he concluded.

Pujara shines in domestic cricket

Cheteshwar Pujara, who last represented India in June last year, scored a double ton in the ongoing domestic tournament and has been knocking on the BCCI's doors for a long time to find a place in the national squad.

The BCCI recently unveiled India's squad for the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy and Pujara wasn't part of this team and he would now have to wait for a long time to return to the national side.