While Indian cricket followers expressed surprise over the exclusion of seasoned Test No. 3 batsman Cheteshwar Pujara for the first Test against England at Edgbaston yesterday, former India coach Madan Lal and ex-chairman of selectors Kiran More gave a thumbs up to the team management's decision to play in-form KL Rahul instead.

Pujara, who reached the United Kingdom a couple of months before the Test series, had a tough time with Yorkshire, scoring just 172 runs in six matches at 14.33 in the Division One County C'ship. Earlier in June, he scored just 35 in the one-off Test against Afghanistan at Bangalore. In the solitary tour game against Essex, Pujara was dismissed for one and 23. Rahul has not looked back since his fruitful IPL-11 and the limited overs series against England.