Che Pujara is the new Che Pujara

My gym instructor, Ravi, makes cricket small-talk. Today, out of nowhere he got on to match fixing. I got on to Zulqarain Haider. His tangent took to naming big names in Indian cricket – surely these guys don’t fix? According to him, only chota (low-level) players fix.

I was unbothered, getting a reverse-grip on my triceps pushdown. Then he took Pujara’s name. Along with Dravid’s. Called them alike, slow players. I had just finished my set. I barked at him. No, he had not watched Pujara’s double. He got a mouthful from me – on how fast Che scores, his scoring areas, his strokes. Ravi was unfazed.

I think he believes what he’s been made to believe – that Cheteshwar Pujara is the new Rahul Dravid. And because he only checks facebook on his phone, there’s very little likelihood that he will watch that Che double.

This one generalisation has done Che more harm than good. If you’re a Dravid-fanboy, then this is heresy. If you’re a Dravid-baiter, then Che is a slowpoke. If you’re too much of a realist, then it’s always, “let’s see how he plays overseas”.

If you are like me, something of a Dravid-Che fan boy, their uniqueness and sameness both meet with a tight embrace.

I must admit I’ve found the comparison, however flawed, not without basis. Both are No. 3 Test batsmen – and I reckon no matter what Che does from here, he will always be remembered as just that. And because he was Dravid’s successor, and so far a more than able one at that, the lazy comparison will continue.

Both are studious in play, thoughtful in comment and model sportspersons, it seems. Both appear to have always been married. Both are January born. Both have played for RCB. Yeah, yeah, this can go on and on.

Both will never get their due. Both will have to contend with far glossier cricketers. In spite of everything, both will never be remembered as limited overs’ players.

But you can’t cut the commentary of an archived Dravid innings and paste it on Che’s batting. They both love the onside but play their shots in your mind’s eye and you know they’re acutely different. For Dravid, it was that scoop over midwicket, for Che it’s played down, from middle or even off sometimes, into the ground, squarer.

Very early days for Che, but going by his past few innings, his strike rate will be on the up. In his last double, he was striking at 60, in his first he was at 53. His career strike rate is 50.59 from 11 Tests, 18 innings. Dravid’s was 42.51. Do you know what Kohli’s is? – 45.96 from 16 Tests, 27 innings. Even IPL wonder-boy Murali Vijay’s is at 48.17.

But how we love to typecast our players! Just because Che is not an IPL poster-boy, he’s not a quick gun like Vijay. The misconceptions seep through cracks in dementia-ridden commentary. They’re said again and again till Ravi-instructor is convinced Che is a slowpoke like Dravid.

If Ravi listens to them long enough, he will be convinced that he has limited shot options – never mind he is one of the few Indian Test bats who can slap a six over square leg. He may have occasionally died by the pull but how many know he breathes life into that shot?

Leave ball after ball after ball, yet another limitation, as is using your feet to the spinners, square cutting latitudes, full faced longitudes, and the equatorial swat – this man is geographic in his short-play, but it will take a foreigner yet again for us Indians to take notice.

Are we deliberately naive or myopic out of neglect? It took a while for the masters in the box to realise Umesh Yadav’s worth and going by experience, they’re working meticulously on Che too.

This man has a beard. Which disappears for the presentation. He speaks in double entendre without knowing it. Straight faced and smiling, here’s a treasure, committed to cricket, like Sunny once was when he was out of the box.

I just checked the twitter feed for Pujara and here’s what I read: Last few matches have proved that #pujara is todays #dravid #formmeirehnabhai

I prefer this tweet by @paperstargirl

Cheteshwar Pujara is the new Cheteshwar Pujara.

— Nicole S. (@paperstargirl) November 16, 2012