It Is One Of The Most Important Series For Us: Cheteshwar Pujara On India's Tour Of Australia 2020

India Test star Cheteshwar Pujara has already set his sight on the much-awaited tour of Australia towards the end of the year. The last time India visited Australia, they created history as they won their first-ever Test series on the Australian soil. Cheteshwar Pujara was the star man with the bat on that occasion.

While no other batsmen in the series could score more than 350 runs, he scored a staggering 521 runs with the help of three centuries as India beat Australia 2-1. The Saurashtra star faced a staggering 1,258 balls in the series which is the most by an Indian in a Test series in Australia surpassing Rahul Dravid’s 1203 balls in the 2003/04 tour.

The right-handed batsman batted approximately 1869 minutes in this Test series which is the third most by an Indian in a Test series. Cheteshwar Pujara will be eyeing a similar performance on the upcoming tour and it seems like he has already started planning for it.

“It is one of the most important series for us,” he told PTI.

Cheteshwar Pujara further spoke on playing a full-strength Australia this time. Last time, Australia were without David Warner and Steve Smith as both the stars were serving their bans imposed on them for the ball-tampering scandal.

“They (Smith and Warner) are important players but if we played the way we played in the last series, we should be able to beat them.

“Fast bowlers have to be fresh and ready for that series and I am sure their workload will be managed. Best part about the tour is that we recently played in Australia (2018-19). I feel that is the biggest advantage for us,” said Cheteshwar Pujara.

He also spoke about India’s inconsistent performance outside the country. While India are at the top of the Test rankings for more than three years now, their performance outside India has not been that great. Since the start of 2018, the Virat Kohli-led side lost series in South Africa, England and New Zealand.

However, Pujara defended the team as he acknowledged that no team, including India, is doing consistently well overseas and picked the reducing pool of quality Test cricketers as the reason for this trend.

“The importance of limited overs cricket has increased significantly. You are not getting too many quality Test players. Earlier, there was a lot of importance given to a Test series. Players used to take ample rest before that. Now we see so many injuries during the season.

“If you look India, Australia, England, the pool of players will be not more than 20-25 whereas if you talk about 10 years ago, India used to have 30-50 players who were ready for Test cricket. I am not saying there are no players available. But if they are ready for Test cricket or not, that is the question,” he opined.

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