India batting star Cheteshwar Pujara is going through a purple patch while representing Sussex in England’s domestic tournaments. He first shattered records in the county championship – the country’s premier red-ball tournament – and then in the ongoing Royal London One-day Cup, continued his surreal form to peel off three centuries and two fifties from eight innings.
What’s more intriguing is the manner in which Pujara has scored these runs. Known for patient approach, the seasoned batter has scored 614 runs so far in the competition at an excellent strike-rate of 116.28.
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He’s currently second in the list of top run-getters of the season behind Stephen Eskinazi of Middlesex who has 658 runs from eight innings.
Pujara has been batting with a vengeance after he was dropped from India’s Test squad earlier this year before he roared back to form with Ranji Trophy and then in county cricket to force his comeback in the national reckoning just after a few months.
Former India pacer Dodda Ganesh though is not surprised by the 34-year-old’s high returns in one-day cricket, citing his List A average of 57.48 as a proof.
‘Pujara was always a fine batsman at the List-A level. His avg of 57 is a testament to it. So his recent heroics in this format in county cricket, is not surprising at all,” Ganesh tweeted on Wednesday.
Pujara was always a fine batsman at the List-A level. His avg of 57 is a testament to it. So his recent heroics in this format in county cricket, is not surprising at all #DoddaMathu #CricketTwitter
— Big Ganesh | Dodda Ganesh (@doddaganesha) August 24, 2022
Pujara has played 111 List A games so far and scored 5059 runs in them including 14 centuries and 31 fifties so far.
While he has built a successful Test career, having played 96 Tests and scored 6792 runs in them, the middle-order batter couldn’t crack the ODI code representing India in just five ODIs before falling off the radar for good.
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With his current form in Royal One-day Cup, Pujara surely has solidified his white-ball credentials and it will be interesting if the selectors end up taking into account his recent performances and perhaps, give him a surprise call-up.
Pujara last played an ODI against Bangladesh in 2014.
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