NEW DELHI: Recently,
Cheteshwar Pujara
scored his 17th first-class double century. The landmark came in the quintessential Pujara way, with a deft, understated leg glance. It was Pujara’s first innings in the ongoing
Ranji Trophy
season. The 36-year-old has been out of favour with India’s Test squad – something he was an integral member of for nearly a decade.
This Ranji season is crucial for Pujara in his endeavour to make a comeback to the team. In recent times, several young batters have got a look-in with the Indian Test team, and with varying degrees of success. But no one has been able to strongly cement his place in the playing XI.
Pujara knows this and hasn’t thrown in the towel yet.
“There have been ups and downs in the last few years and it tests you as a player. I still have a lot to prove. This (making a comeback) is a different type of challenge. I know that the kind of contributions I have made to Indian cricket, I still have a lot to contribute,” Pujara had said in a podcast not long ago.
And he is walking the talk in this Ranji season.
In 10 innings, Pujara has scored 673 runs at an average of 74.77, including two centuries and two half-centuries. He has also reached the milestone of 20,000 first-class runs.
With this performance, what Pujara has managed to do is to remain in the conversation around the Test squad. After Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer had modest returns against England in the first Test in Hyderabad, former India coach Ravi Shastri issued a warning to the two batsmen.
“These youngsters need to prove themselves. Don’t forget, Pujara is waiting. He is grinding it out in the Ranji Trophy and is always on the radar,” Shastri said during commentary.
Against Rajasthan, Pujara scored 110 on a track that was turning square at the end of the second session on Day 1. It was a masterclass on how to play spin on rank
turners, something the young batters in the Indian Test squad currently can strive to emulate.
Just like Pujara, another former Test regular, Ajinkya Rahane too had set out to revive his fortune with good returns in the Ranji season. However, Rahane’s bat isn’t doing him any favour — he has managed just 90 runs at an average of 15.00 so far. An unbeaten 56 against Chhattisgarh in his innings got some respectability to the numbers, but preceding that Rahane had returns of 1, 9, 8, 16, 0, 0 during the season.
After the World Test Championship final last year, the Indian team management has made it amply clear that they’re looking beyond Pujara and Rahane and want to give a “longish” run to the newcomers in the Test team. But will it be prudent to completely ignore a proven Test veteran like Pujara and not have him in the frame at all?
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