India vs Australia: ‘He has to bat for 15 out of 20 days of Test cricket ahead of us’ – Sunil Gavaskar hails Cheteshwar Pujara as key for India to win Test series

After much wait and anticipation, the Border Gavaskar series is finally underway. With Virat Kohli set to return after the series opener in Adelaide, it will be up to the rest of the batsmen to step up. The Indian side is brimming with talent boasting the likes of young openers Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul, Prithvi Shaw, and Shubman Gill. With experienced Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, and Hanuma Vihari in the middle order.

Even with all the talent, one batsman has to take up the responsibility of scoring runs consistently throughout the series. And who better than calm and composed Pujara to rise once again in Australia. The Saurashtra batter hammered three centuries en route to scoring 521 runs during India’s last visit Down Under.

He loves batting, he loves being at the crease

And former India batter Sunil Gavaskar believes he will be the key to India’s series victory in Australia this time around too. Gavaskar shared that Pujara will have to grind out the Aussie bowlers and try to spend long hours at the crease. It was Pujara’s resilience that handed India the Test series victory Down Under during the historic 2018-19 tour.

“Out of 20 days of Test cricket that we have ahead of us, we are really happy to have him bat for 15 days, there is no question about it,” Gavaskar said on the Star Sports show GAME PLAN.

India is playing their first Test after a gap of nine months. And Test specialist Pujara has had no game time during that period. Many experts believe that it might lead to Pujara’s unraveling against a lethal Aussie pace attack. But Gavaskar feels that the red ball stalwart’s mental strength more than makes up for the lack of game time.

“Whether he has played any cricket or not, I don’t think it’s going to make any difference because he is so strong mentally, that he will be… he loves batting, he loves being at the crease, he loves wearing the bowlers down. In the last two years, he has also improved his strokes and range of shots.”

Pujara seems to be standing up to Gavaskar’s expectations so far in the series opener as he continues to defend his way through the first session. India looked in trouble having lost Shaw early. But a measured partnership between Agarwal and Pujara steadied the ship for the visitors before the former departed.

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