Cheteshwar Pujara Last 10 Test Innings

Indian Test cricketer Cheteshwar Pujara (a part of India’s Last World Test Championship Final squad) has been dropped from India’s South Africa touring Squad.

The Indian top-order batsman was a regular team member of the Indian Test team. He has scored 7195 runs by playing 103 test matches, including 19 centuries and 35 fifties. He is a classy technically sound batsman who generally bats at number 3.

Cheteshwar Pujara has failed to perform in International Cricket on a consistent basis since 2020. The situation has become so grim that he has scored a single 50+ score in the last 10 Test innings.

Let’s look at the last ten innings played by Cheteshwar Pujara

From the table, we can see that this is not convincing for a batsman who represents India at no.3 in Test Cricket. We used to watch ‘The Wall’ Rahul Dravid on that position. Pujara, to some extent, was pretty good though as a succeeder of Rahul Dravid. But his recent form haunts a lot.

Why is Cheteshwar Pujara not in India’s Test Squad?

In Test Cricket, a no. 3 batsman has a big role in balancing the batting order. It does not mandate that he needs to score big in every match. His role is all about not giving his wicket and sticking around there as long as possible. And Pujara had been doing it in style before 2020. But his form suddenly dropped after the pandemic started. He had gotten enough time to recover his form but failed. India is full of youngsters who can play this role. Especially, after Shreyas Iyer’s comeback from injury, the Indian Cricket Board is looking for that replacement.