Cheteshwar Pujara: Back In The Running

Missing out on the IPL has proved to be a blessing in disguise for Pujara as he has been absolutely sensational for his county. In four matches, he has smashed 717 runs at a spectacular average of 143.40 with four hundreds...

- Renin Wilben

When Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane were dropped from the Indian Test team for the home series against Sri Lanka, it seemed their Test careers were all but over. Many cricket pundits predicted so. And they had a fair point as the two senior men had been struggling for an extended period of time. There were glimpses of revival in every series but nothing really materialized into anything productive. At the end of each series, it was back to the same old story again. There was not a lot of backlash when the two were dropped and understandably so. Starting from January 2021, Pujara had scored 810 runs in 16 Tests at an average of 27.93. His last Test hundred came in the New Year Test of January 2019. As for Rahane, during the same period, he scored 547 runs in 15 Tests at an average of 20.25 with a best of 67. Both Pujara and Rahane got plenty of opportunities to secure their places but failed to do the same. BCCI President Sourav Ganguly urged them to do well in the Ranji Trophy. Again, both came up with some impressive performances but nothing outstanding.