‘Look For Someone Else’: Sunil Gavaskar Backs Cheteshwar Pujara Ahead Of Ind v Eng 1st Test

Indian cricket team’s Test specialist Cheteshwar Pujara, Known for his strong defense and technique, has faced a lot of criticism for his ‘slow batting’ during the entire course of the two-year World Test Championship (WTC) cycle. The star batsman failed to attain a hundred and scored at an average of less than 30.

Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar has come out in Pujara’s support. He believes that Pujara’s style of playing is perfect and if the team doesn’t like it, they should look for someone else.  

Pujara will be next seen in action during India vs England five-match Test series, scheduled to start from Wednesday in Nottingham.

“Pujara has got to the international level playing in a certain way, he has got to trust that method. In case, the team doesn’t trust that method, then they have to maybe look at bringing somebody else in,” Gavaskar told PTI on Monday.

The ex-India skipperadded, “But this is a method that’s worked for him, worked for India. He has held the fort at one end while the stroke-players at the other end have been at liberty to play their shots knowing that there is a solid player at one end.

“I think he’s got to believe in himself and carry on playing as he knows best because he has done a fantastic job for India over the years,” he added.

With Shubman Gill ruled out due to an injury, Gavaskar backed K L Rahul to open the batting with veteran Rohit Sharma.

“I think with KL Rahul scoring a hundred in the three-day game, he should be the person that they should consider to open the batting. Mayank Agarwal has had an outstanding season in 2019 but the last tour to Australia, he struggled a bit,” Gavaskar said.

“Whereas with a hundred under his belt, I think Rahul will have lots of confidence. He is the person I would look at opening the batting, not having Pujara going up the order.

“Also, don’t forget, the last Test match that Rahul played in England (in 2018), he got a hundred at The Oval. With that in mind, it might be a good idea to look at Rahul as an opener ahead of Mayank,” elaborated the former opener.