(Cricket news) Cheteshwar Pujara is knocking on the selectors doors with his performance in the County championship. After underwhelming performances for India in the tour of South Africa and England along with the home series against New Zealand, Pujara was dropped from the Indian side after being the rock of the team for so long. The batter then went unsold in the IPL 2022 mega auction after which he signed for Susex to play in the England County championship.
Playing in the 2nd division of the County Championship, Cheteshwar Pujara has scored 717 runs in 7 innings. He has scored 2 hundreds and 2 double hundreds and is also the 2nd highest run getter. Pujara's performance has attracted eyeballs and people are already calling for his return to the Indian side. India has only one Test match scheduled this year which is the postponed game against England. India are leading the series 2-1 and new captain Rohit Sharma along with new coach Rahul Dravid will be looking to seal the series.
Pujara is playing in England which is an added advantage. India at some point will have to move on from Pujara and the process has already started as they have been dropped and calling him back could prove to be costly. Chief selector Chetan Sharma said that if Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara get runs in domestic cricket then they can return to the side. Pujara has done just that so he will definitely be in the mix.
The quality of the County Championship has been questioned but one of the bowlers Pujara got the better of is Shaheen Afridi who is considered the best all format bowler in the world. There are 9 more games left for Pujara to play which could make things clearer. If he continues to put in good performances then it will be very difficult to keep him out of the squad for the Test on first July.
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