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Team India is all set to face Australia in the upcoming and most-awaited World Test Championship final against Australia at The Oval from June 7. Playing at the marquee event, both the teams will be giving their best in order to clinch the coveted ICC trophy. The Rohit Sharma-led side is filled with the likes of Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Shubman Gill, Ravindra Jadeja, and others, which make them a difficult side to surmount. However, one player who will definitely be the grabbing all the attention will be senior batter Cheteshwar Pujara as he is coming back from a successful stint at the County.
The time when the majority of the Indian squad was playing at the Indian Premier League, Pujara was playing in England at the County Cricket for Sussex. He is currently currently the highest run-scorer in Division Two of the Championship, having scored 545 runs in eight innings at an average of above 68, with three centuries and a fifty.
Speaking about his form, former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar called Pujara the “most dependable” player in the Indian batting lineup for the WTC final.
“He has always played County cricket, whether India have a tour scheduled in England or not. Because there’s T20 cricket going on in India at the time. He was dropped last year, and we saw how life after Pujara could be, and it wasn’t that great. Today, Pujara is the most dependable player in the Indian lineup,” Manjrekar told ESPNCricinfo.
“After he came back, I’m ready to accept that India is not ready for life after Pujara yet. They still need him,” said Manjrekar further.
Pujara was in fine form for Sussex last year as well. In eight matches last year in the Championship, he scored 1,094 runs at an average of 109.40. He scored five half-centuries last year, with the best score of 231.
He was the fourth-highest run-scorer in the division behind Wayne Madsen (1,273 for Derbyshire), Haseeb Hameed (1,235 for Nottinghamshire) and Sam Northeast (1,189 for Glamorgan).
India and Australia will be squaring off in the WTC final from June 7 at The Oval.
(With ANI Inputs)
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