Cheteshwar Pujara has long been touted as India’s next Dravid. He replaced the legendary No. 3 batsman and has also shaped his game a lot on the lines of The Wall. Having been under scrutiny lately for his slow strike rate, especially when his captain made that fact a public knowledge, Pujara looks seemingly set to answer his critics and repay Kohli’s faith by doing what the situation demands.
After having a choppy couple of seasons, he is now looking in good touch, which was especially visible in how he controlled his pace against England’s bowling attack in the first innings of the first test. Striking above 60, when nearly everyone else had strike rates around 40, showed just how seriously he respects Kohli’s mandate.
The following is a statistical look at Pujara’s career across formats so far.
#1 Highest run-scorer in the U-19 One-Day World Cup
Pujara may not be the fastest run scorer, but can be a really handy bat in the longer version of the limited overs format. His List A average of 54.12 is not an easy feat by any means, but before he became India’s Number 3 in Test cricket, Cheteshwar Pujara was busy knocking bowlers all over the park in U-19 One-Day cricket.
The Saurashtra batsman was the leading run-scorer with 349 runs in 6 matches (1 century and 2 half-centuries) in the 2006 U-19 World Cup, at a brilliant average of 116.33.
Despite India losing in the final to Pakistan, Pujara was adjudged the Player of the Tournament, and that’s a huge feat especially given how Pujara has been branded as a typical ‘Test-cricket only’ batsman.
That particular edition of the U-19 World Cup also featured some other big names in international cricket like Rohit Sharma, Eoin Morgan, Dean Elgar, Aaron Finch, Mushfiqur Rahim, Moeen Ali, Shakib Al Hasan, Usman Khawaja, and Angelo Mathews, which makes his achievement even greater.
#2 Highest average in India’s current Test side
It’s not the least bit surprising that Pujara has a rock-steady Test average, hovering around the often golden benchmark of Test cricket - 50. At 49.95, not only does Pujara have a great Test average – after having played 39 tests and 66 innings – the Indian batsman also has the highest Test average amongst his teammates playing in the current India-England series.
Having started his Test career with a flurry of centuries, Pujara had seen a dip in form over the past couple of seasons.
However, a good outing against the Kiwis (3 half centuries and a century), and a century in the first test against the English team will do his confidence a world of good. Pujara is 3 runs away from scoring 3000 runs in Test cricket and has already scored 9 centuries and 10 half centuries in his young Test career. If he scores 3 runs or more in the next innings he plays (his 67th), he will join elite company by becoming the fifth fastest Indian (in terms of innings taken) to reach the milestone.
Both Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid took 67 innings to reach the 3,000-run mark. The only faster Indians are: Sehwag (55), Azharuddin (64), Sunil Gavaskar (66), Gautam Gambhir (66).
#3 First-class record: As good as it gets
Cheteshwar Pujara has an extremely enviable first-class record. Having played 135 first-class matches and batted in 221 first-class innings, the Saurashtra batsman has racked up monstrous numbers. His 10845 first-class runs is second only to Gambhir’s 14,120 amongst all members of the current Indian Test squad.
His average of 57.38 is also second, very marginally, to Ajinkya Rahane’s 57.42, and his highest score of 352 tops the chart when compared to other players in the current squad.
Pujara has 71 fifty-plus scores in first-class cricket, and 35 of them are centuries, making for an extremely efficient 50-to-100 conversion rate. Pujara has shown tremendous concentration and temperament and has what it takes to bat long hours and through sessions to produce those big scores.
Out of his 9 test centuries, 4 are scores of 150-plus including 2 double centuries (against England and Australia). He also has 3 man-of-the-match awards to his name, and all three matches where he has won these awards produced results in India’s favour.
Pujara has also scored 3 triple-centuries and 10 double-centuries in first-class cricket, and is the first Indian to score a double hundred against the newly introduced pink ball in the final of the Duleep Trophy in September this year.
#4 Occupying the crease
A lot of people discredit Pujara for his slow strike rate, however, not enough credit goes to him for his sheer grit and the amount of time he spends in the middle. Pujara’s average number of deliveries faced per inning are nearly 93; 2 overs more or more than that of Gambhir’s, Kohli’s or Rahane’s.
A typical Number 3 batsman needs to spend a lot of time in the middle, soaking pressure from the bowlers, thereby giving his team and teammates the ability and luxury to try and score freely at the other end, as one end is securely anchored. Rahul Dravid was the master of this trait, and averaged nearly 109 deliveries per innings, giving enough time and opportunity to his partners to flourish.
It’s no strange co-incidence that Dravid has featured in some of the most memorable partnerships of Indian test cricket. Pujara, like his idol Dravid, has modelled his game to play a lot of deliveries and give his partners more freedom to attack.
At his position, not only does it see off the lingering threat of the new ball, it also helps tire bowlers out, and gives enough time to the batsman at the other end to acclimatise and settle in. He may not be close to Dravid’s caliber yet, but he surely is modeling this part of his game in a Dravid-esque manner.
#5 Test centuries against all opposition
Pujara has played Test cricket against 6 countries, and he has a century against his name against all 6 of them! His highest scores against various oppositions are:
England – 206*
Australia – 204
New Zealand – 159
South Africa – 153
Sri Lanka – 145*
West Indies – 113
While a lot of improvement needs to happen on Pujara’s game away from home, his stats in India are pretty impressive. He has amassed 1996 runs at an average of 66.53.
His only two away centuries have come in Sri Lanka (145*) and South Africa (153), one of which was a match-winner and the other a potential match-saver. The lowest average Pujara has against an opposition is 39.46 against South Africa and his highest is against Sri Lanka, but that’s only through one match played.
The Saurashtrian has played maximum cricket against the English team and has scored 802 runs against them in 10 matches (19 innings) at an average of 47.17. His stats against Australia and New Zealand are similar, having scored 696 and 649 runs against them at averages of 53.53 and 54.08 respectively.
Most of these though are on the backs of solid home performances, the real challenge for Cheteshwar Pujara would be to replicate the same success away!
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