India’s veteran batter, Cheteshwar Pujara has been Australia’s nightmare in India’s last two tours down under. With the five-Test series approaching, Pujara might look the man as selectors declare the team, given his extensive experience.
Squad Announcement Date
The Board of Control for Cricket in India, or BCCI, may declare the team on October 28. Everything will depend on whether Ajit Agarkar along with the committee will prefer experience in Pujara’s case over giving younger blood a chance.
Pujara’s Excellence In Australia
Currently 36 years old, Pujara has an excellent record against Australia. In the 2018-19 series, Pujara was the leading run-scorer, scoring 521 runs from 1,258 balls. Three years later, again he stood like a rock, scoring 271 runs from 928 balls.
Over these two series, the 103-Test veteran faced the highest number of deliveries, effectively wearing down Australia’s formidable bowling attack that has the likes of Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, and Mitchell Starc.
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Recent Performance And Absence From International Cricket
Pujara hasn’t featured for India since the World Test Championship final in June 2023 but still is racking up runs. His final appearance at the Ranji Trophy shows that towards the end of his unbeaten 383-ball innings, he went on to score 234 against Chhattisgarh.
Reddy’s All-Round Skills And Thakur’s Expertise
Nitish Reddy, who has been seen quite well in the Bangladesh series, would not be able to cut for the T20s to be played in South Africa as the latter has been selected for the India A side to take part in the shadow tour of Australia. Meanwhile, Shardul Thakur’s experience would be valuable, though he hasn’t done much since coming back from injury. Thakur had a huge impact during the last visit to Australia where he helped India win a historic test series at Gabba.
Bowling Choices For The Side
Avesh Khan and Yash Dayal are likely to complement the main three-Akash Deep, Jasprit Bumrah, and Mohammed Siraj-while Mohammed Shami might not completely come good for the first matches of the series against Australia, which begins at Perth on November 22. Shami said that he had felt pain-free after training for some time on Thursday.
As the team goes into the count and the squad is announced, all will be looking for the return of Pujara to the team, thinking that he has finally proven that he can play for the first time under pressure in Australia.
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