New Delhi: As he was part of India’s consecutive Test series wins in Australi, Hanuma Vihari knows the importance of veteran batter Cheteshwar Pujara in thoe glass-ceiling breaking victories. And he reckons India will feel his absence when their five-match Test series begins from November 22.
Now out of favour from the Indian Test side, Pujara scored 521 runs to be the leading run-getter of the 2018-19 series, following it up with 271 in the series three years later as Australia failed to penetrate his stoic defensive technique.
But the 103-Test veteran has not been picked in recent times, leading Vihari to wonder who can fulfill Pujara’s role for the Indian team in the Border-Gavaskar series this time.
“Pujara will a big miss. he was the backbone of the batting line-up in the last two series for Team India. He took blows, he batted time, he stayed there for a long time, he saw the new ball, he got runs. He made the job easier for the other batters coming in,” Vihari told PTI.
“So that kind of role… who will play is a question mark for me. Currently I would say we have an attacking mode of a batting line up (the top six). All like to play their shots. Virat is the only one I feel in that batting line up who can be like a glue to the other batters.
“He can stay on and bat the most number of overs and you know batting in Australia is all about time. If you see off the new ball, it gets a little easier with the older Kookaburra ball,” he added.
Vihari has represented India in 16 Tests, with the last of them being in July 2022. In India previous tour, Vihari had put together a crucial partnership with Ravichandran Ashwin to help India draw the Sydney Test.
‘KL Rahul’s role important’
Vihari reasoned that KL Rahul’s form would be very crucial for the Indian team as the right hander has experience of playing overseas more than Sarfaraz Khan.
“That’s where KL Rahul’s role also will be important because he is someone who’s got the experience in playing in SENA countries and he can bat long. He has done well in SENA countries. I feel they are looking at KL Rahul at number 6 as well,” he said.
“By playing Rahul ahead of Sarfaraz in the current series (against Bangladesh), they are looking at a bigger picture. They want experience in number 6 when we tour Australia.
“Because in Australia playing at 6 you need to have good technique whether it’s facing the second new ball or batting after an early collapse,” Vihari added.
Now out of the Indian team, Cheteshwar Pujara scored 521 runs to be the leading run-getter of the 2018-19 series, following it up with 271 in the series three years later Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
