Mid-division veteran Cheteshwar Pujara has started preparations for the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test series against Australia which starts from February 9. The batter took to Twitter and shared some photos from a practice session. “Prepare for India vs Australia,” Pujara tweeted. It will be important for Team India that this batsman shows his determination, determination and steely approach to batting to the fullest against a world class Australian bowling attack. Last year he was in shape. In five Tests and 10 innings in 2022, Pujara scored 409 runs at an average of 45.44. Last year he scored one century and three half centuries.
ready vs pic.twitter.com/g8c1RRqUbO
— Cheteshwar Pujara (@cheteshwar1) January 31, 2023
His century returned after more than 1400 days in December last year. Before that, he had hit a century in January 2019. Two years of inconsistent form followed the batsman as he could only average 20.37 (2020) and 28.08 (2021) and scored a total of 865 runs in 18 Tests and 34 innings with seven fifties. .
But a stint with Sussex County in England changed things for him. In his eight games for Sussex in the County Championship, he scored 1,094 runs at an average of 109.40. He scored over five hundred scores in the championship in 13 innings, with a best score of 231. He was the fourth highest points scorer in the championship.
Pujara is the sixth highest point scorer in Border-Gavaskar Trophy history. In 20 matches and 37 innings he scored 1,893 runs at an average of 54.08 with five centuries and 10 half centuries and a best score of 204.
The batsman’s top performances in BGT came back in 2018/19 in Australia where he topped the batting charts and won the ‘Man of the Series’ award. In four matches and seven innings he scored 521 runs at an average of 74.42, with three centuries and fifty. His best individual score was 193.
In the 2020-21 edition of the series in which India made history and won the series 2-1 after battling the absence of star batsman Virat Kohli, poor performance in the first Test where they pulled out all for just 36, racism and injuries to key players, Pujara was one of India’s brightest stars. In four matches and eight innings he scored 271 runs at an average of 33.87, with three fifties and a best of 77. His best performance was a strike of 56 at the final test at The Gabba in Brisbane where he won many . of body blows to lead his team to victory, which was Aussie’s first test loss at the venue since 1988.
The series is big for both teams as they look for a spot in the final of the World Test Championship (WTC). The series kicks off on February 9 in Nagpur with Tests in Delhi, Dharamsala and Ahmedabad.
Australia tops the WTC standings with a winning percentage of 75.56 and has won 10 Tests, lost one and drawn four. India is second with a winning percentage of 58.93 and has won five Tests, lost four and drawn one.
India’s test squad for first two tests against Australia: Rohit Sharma (captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KS Bharat (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), R Ashwin , Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammad Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat and Suryakumar Yadav.
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