Cheteshwar Pujara is often hailed as the successor to the legendary India Rahul Dravid. Both Dravid and Pujara share many similarities with each other. Pujara much like Dravid does his job quietly by scoring plenty of runs from his side. Since Dravid’s retirement, Pujara has made the number 3 position in Test cricket his own.
The Saurashtra batsman has been a consistent performer for team India in the longer format of the game. His textbook style batting and his calm persona off the field reminds everyone of Dravid. Pujara recently commented that he has learnt a lot from the former India captain and has immense respect for him.
Learned a lot of Dravid – Pujara
Pujara said that Dravid was extremely versatile that made a lot of sacrifices for his team. He made difficult things look easy and always put his hand up whenever his team needed him. He lauded Dravid’s extraordinary career in all formats of the game. Dravid scored more than 10,000 runs in both Test and ODIs. During the twilight of his career, he was extremely successful even in the Indian Premier League.
Pujara said, “There have been many qualities. Dravid has always been calm, very composed. He has always lived a balanced life. There have been many qualities. I don’t need to name one”.
“The kind of sacrifices he has made for the team. I have never kept wickets but he is someone who has kept wickets in the Indian team when there was a need in the ODI team. To do all such things for the team, it’s not easy. If you are not a regular wicketkeeper, it’s one of the most difficult things”.
“So, he has tackled all such challenges over a period of time. not just in 1 format. He has played ODI cricket for such a long time. Even late in his career, he was successful in T20 format also, mostly IPL”, Pujara told Arjun Pandit on Sony Ten Pit Stop.
Cheteshwar Pujara was the player of the series for India in Australia last year when India won their first-ever Test series Down under. In 4 Test matches, he scored 521 runs and played a key role in helping his side win the historic series in Australia. Overall in his Test career, Pujara has 5840 runs with 18 Tons at an average of 48.7.