India vs Afghanistan: Top five batsmen to look forward to in the contest

#3. Cheteshwar Pujara

Pujara playing for Nottinghamshire in County cricket last season

'"When you're playing Test cricket for your country, you can't just play your natural game. You play the circumstances." These are the famous words of Cheteshwar Pujara when he was asked about playing Test matches. What he said certainly reflected his playing attitude - It has always "Team first, self later" for the Saurashtra batsman who has been donning the whites for India for almost eight years now. As India's most trusted No. 3 batsman, Pujara has repaid the faith on him more often than not. Once he is set, it will take more than a Herculean effort to dislodge him, and it will be a daunting task for the Afghan bowlers to do so.

Coming from a fairly successful county cricket season with Yorkshire, the experience of playing there will be an added advantage for Pujara, in contrast to everyone else, who are back after limited-over-game seasons, either in the IPL or elsewhere. It will also be interesting to see how he fares against Afghan bowling spearhead Rashid Khan.

Pujara has 4496 runs from 57 Test matches at an average of 50.52 so far.