After Cheteshwar Pujara announced his retirement of all forms of cricket on Sunday, August 24, Kris Srikkanth called him under the top three Indian batters in tests in Australia.
Pujara called time on his career after scoring 7195 runs in 103 tests on an average of 43.61. He played an important role for India in their triumphs against Australia in the Border-Gavaskar series in 2018-19 and 2020-21. In the 2018-19 tour he was appointed player of the series. In the meantime, in 2020-21, he was the second highest run-getter for India. The Asian giants won both series with an identical score of 2-1.
Pujara scored 993 points of 11 tests in Australia with an average of 47.28. Srikkanth was of the opinion that the 37-year-old third is among Indian batters for their performances. The former India skipper kept Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli as the top two batters in his ranking.
“It should be Sachin, Virat, Pujara as 1, 2, 3. We all know that Sachin is God and Virat is king. But for Pujara can be playing great at their level in Australia. Fast Bowlers always prefer batters who play shots so that their opportunities are to take on his YouTube canal.
Srikkanth said that Pujara should get more credit and recognition for his versions as a cricket player with a red ball for India. The first expressed his disappointment and said that Pujara should have dominated the headlines after he had announced his retirement.
“My only frustration is more than Pujara who does not receive the recognition that someone with more than 100 tests earns. Despite the fact that he has such an incredible state of service, nobody calls him a big player. As he retires, everyone tweeted about him, but not greeting as they should.
If Rahul Dravid was the wall, Pujara was a mini wall: Srikkanth
Srikkanth praised Pujara’s consistency and mentioned how he broke into the test team when faithful Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid still played. The former India opener also attracted parallels between Pujara and Dravid for their ability to wear bowlers with their compact defensive techniques.
“What I like about Pujara is his consistency during his career. In the beginning in 2010 he fought with Rahul Dravid for a place on the test side. He competed with many big names and boarded the team when the big fathers, such as Sehwag, Tendulkar and Dravid were there. Even Virat Kohli said.
“Fact, he even made his test debut before Virat Kohli. Let’s remember that no. 3 is a very important position. Pujara was the master in wearing the bowlers. If Rahul Dravid was the wall, Pujara was a mini wall,” he added.
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