'Cheteshwar Pujara was really hard to get out last summer' says Pat Cummins

Australian pace bowling all-rounder Pat Cummins has picked Indian stalwart Cheteshwar Pujara as the toughest batsman he's had to bowl against in the Test format.

Cummins recently took to Instagram where he answered a bunch of questions from fans. The burly pacer named Steve Smith as the hardest batsman to get out in the nets, Jacques Kallis' dismissal in his debut Test as his favourite wicket among other responses to fans' questions.

One such question was for Cummins to name the toughest batsman he's faced off against, and the all-rounder named the Indian test specialist.

'@cheteshwar1 was a real pain in the back for us last summer, he was the toughest batsman to bowl' - Pat Cummins. pic.twitter.com/PavzzBm75c

— Sai Kishore (@SaiKishore537) April 25, 2020

"I'm gonna go for someone different who was a little pain in the backside for us last summer, Pujara for India. He was an absolute rock for them that series, really hard to get out. Just ultra concentration all day, day after day, he's the hardest one in Test cricket so far," said Cummins.

Cheteshwar Pujara played a huge role in India's historic 2-1 series triumph over Australia back in 2018-19. After a 1-1 T20I series draw, India drew first blood in the four-match Test series with a 31-run win from the first Test match.

Cheteshwar Pujara had a huge role to play in that game, with his 123 in the first innings and 71 in the second innings helped India to respectable totals. Although the right-hander made only scores of 24 and 4 in the second Test, he scored an important 319-ball 106 in the third Test.

Cheteshwar Pujara scored 521 runs from four matches

Cheteshwar Pujara celebrates a milestone

A rare duck followed in the second innings of that Test, but a collective effort from the pace attack of Ishant Sharma (2/40), Jasprit Bumrah (3/53), Mohammed Shami (2/71) and three wickets for Ravindra Jadeja (3/82) helped India seal a 137-run win.

The fourth Test was when Cheteshwar Pujara was at his very best, with the stylish batsman making his way to a 373-ball 193 in India's first innings total of 622/7 dec.

The Saurashtra-born batsman finished with 521 runs from four matches at an average of 74.42 including three centuries, and he was deservingly named as the Man of the Series.