What next for Cheteshwar Pujara?

It was October 2010, when a young batsman, who had already made quite a name for himself at the first class level, finally made his test debut for India. He had been playing first class cricket for 6 years already, making mountains of runs, tiring bowlers into submission. Experts held the view that he should have made his debut long back, but a few other batsmen, via their exploits in limited overs matches, got into the test team before him.

Anyway, the day finally came. In the first innings, he got an unplayable delivery by Mitchell Johnson that scooted along the ground and had him out LBW for a single digit score. Come the 2nd innings though, and we were all in for a surprise. In a tricky chase, the Indian captain surprised everyone by sending this debutant in at no.3, ahead of Rahul Dravid, and he didn't disappoint, scoring an aggressive but composed 72 to guide India's run chase and secure a win against the mighty Australians.

This man, as you all know, was Cheteshwar Pujara.

From then, there was no looking back for the diligent right-hander in test cricket. After Rahul Dravid's retirement in 2011, he made the no. 3 spot in the test line up his own and scored centuries against New Zealand, England and Australia in the 2012 home season. His test average at one time after that season, was well into the 60s. Another testament to this amazing run of form was that he became the fastest Indian batsman to 1000 test runs in terms on no. of tests played.

The law of averages, as they say, finally caught up with him after that, and the big scores dried up. There were overseas tours in 2014 for India, wherein they first went to England for 4 test and then towards the end of the year, to Australia for another 4. This is where Pujara's form deserted him. These 8 tests brought him a total of 423 runs, which by his standards was a poor return. In these Tests though, what seemed odd was that he was almost always getting a start and not really getting out for single-digit scores in the first 10-20 deliveries he faced, but what he seemed unable to do, for some inexplicable reason, was convert these starts into substantial scores like he usually did.

Was it a technical issue or just a psychological one? Or none of these, may be just poor luck? No one seemed to have an answer.

This loss of form coincided with another significant event in Indian cricket; Virat Kohli taking over the reins of the test team. As soon as he took over and quickly forged a strong captain-coach partnership with the team director, Ravi Shastri, he made his intentions quite clear that his aim will be to be aggressive on the field, and in team selection as well, which meant he would like to play 5 specialist bowlers in the test XI.

What this effectively meant was that except the wicket-keeper, there can be just 5 specialist batsmen in the line-up. Shikhar Dhawan and Murali Vijay had started to settle down in the role of openers and Ajinkya Rahane's position as the team's main middle order batsman was by now undisputed. The no. 4 slot was, of course, for captain Kohli.

That left room for just one more batsman. As Kohli showed in a test in Australia and on the tour to Sri Lanka, he was in favor of giving Rohit Sharma an extended run in the team despite his continuous failures, firmly believing that he is a batsman who can change a test match in a session and thus, fits in perfectly with his aggressive plans.

Pujara, as a result, started finding himself out of favor and the no. 3 spot which was firmly his, started looking wobbly. Injuries to regular openers gave him another chance in the line-up in a test in Sri Lanka, as an opener, and he responded in the best possible manner, by carrying his bat for a splendid 145 on a pitch that was tricky.

Still, a place in the Test XI seems far from guaranteed, as now, another star has emerged, by the name of KL Rahul, who already has 3 overseas test hundreds to his name, to go with one each in ODIs and T20Is.

So, what next for Pujara then?

The upcoming home season has India playing 13 tests, against 4 oppositions; New Zealand, England, Bangladesh and Australia. The 5 bowler strategy seems a certainty as Virat in all likelihood would want to unleash 3 spinners against these teams along with 2 pacers, which will mean just 5 batsmen again. KL Rahul, on current form, seems a certain starter as an opener, which would mean one of Shikhar or Vijay would partner him, but after them, since Rahane and Kohli are guaranteed spots, and Rohit Sharma almost assured of a longer run by coach Anil Kumble and captain Virat, will it mean Pujara having to carry drinks and wait for his turn if someone gets injured or has a prolonged loss of form?

My opinion would be: No, this shouldn't happen. Let's see why.

Here are his current test match numbers:

Matches	Innings	Runs	Average	Highest	Hundreds	Fifties
35	58	2482	46.83	206	7	7

A look at Pujara's numbers above tells us that he's still amongst our best test match batsmen, if not THE best. In his last test series against the West Indies, in his last innings, he was run out for 46, which again tells that he wasn't out of form; just that he couldn't convert the start into a big score.

In the on-going Duleep trophy, he scored a brilliant 166 for India Blue against India Green just a few days ago that helped them amass 707 in a match they had to either win or get a first innings lead in, to get to the finals. And needless to say, this effort went a long way in helping them achieve it.

As I write this, the Duleep trophy final is being played, and batting against Yuvraj Singh's India Red, Pujara has scored another classy hundred in the first innings, crossing 10,000 first-class runs in the process, with 33 hundreds and 32 fifties, at an average in excess of 55. And he is just 28, an age after which a batsman usually comes into this prime, as per most experts.

His numbers in test matches played in India are exemplary, have a look:

Matches	Innings	Runs	Average	Highest	Hundreds	Fifties
17	27	1481	64.39	206	5	4

Add to that that solitary unbeaten innings he played in Sri Lanka of 145 as that on a pitch similar to the ones we have in India, and that average soars to over 70. Such numbers should ideally mean that the man who's made them, his name is the first on the sheet when picking the test XI, shouldn't it?

His current Duleep trophy form combined with these special numbers should see him play all the 13 home tests to come batting at no. 3, barring any unfortunate injury. What usually works against him is that he doesn't play for India in both the limited overs formats and hence, a player who does well there, gets more of a chance of impressing the selectors than Pujara, who just keeps doing what he does best, and has done for a decade; churning out big runs at the domestic level against every team he gets to play.

The future might seem slightly uncertain in the wake of all this recent talk by the Indian captain about aggression and that Pujara, seemingly, doesn't fit perfectly into these "aggressive" plans, but it won't remain so for long if he keeps making timely hundreds just like he is doing in the Duleep Trophy. A batsman of his class should never remain on the sidelines in a test lineup at all, and I for one, would love to see him play not just these upcoming 13 tests and cement his spot in the test team, but more than 100 Tests for India, which he most richly deserves to.