Without a doubt, Cheteshwar Pujara has had a tremendous career playing for India in the red-ball system. He made a name for himself as the batting department’s rock when Rahul Dravid retired. The Indian team administration and selectors, meanwhile, have passed over Pujara, who hasn’t participated in an international red-ball match since the 2023 WTC Final over Australia.
Cheteshwar Pujara was also a vital component of the team’s success in their last two tours to Australia.
In the 2018–19 series, he scored the most runs (521 in seven innings), and in the 2020–21 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, he made history in Sydney and Brisbane. India won both series by the same score of 2-1.
Nevertheless, despite dominating for Sussex in the just finished County Championship, Pujara is unlikely to be included in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy team. Shane Watson, a former Australian batter, believes that India may not miss their experienced hitter despite his absence because of the firepower they have available in the current lineup.
“The thing about Pujara is that he simply never makes a mistake. As opposed to the numerous amazing top-order hitters for India that you have seen, like [Yashwai] Jaiswal, who has scored runs rapidly without making a mistake. According to News18, Watson said, “He hasn’t really given the opposition a chance to be able to get him out.”
Watson emphasised that Pujara’s absence from the team wouldn’t have any effect at all on the team if offensive hitters similar to Jaiswall were included into the Indian system.
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Watson said, “Those kinds of batters can still have the same effect (as with Pujara in the team) and they keep the game moving as well if they do come out to Australia and play aggressively, put the bad balls away, and put the pressure on the Aussie bowlers.”
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