ENG vs IND: Was Hopeful That I Will Make A Comeback To The Indian Team – Cheteshwar Pujara

Senior Indian batter Cheteshwar Pujara said he was confident of making a comeback to India’s Test set-up after having a great run in County cricket.

On Sunday (May 22), Pujara was named in India’s 17-member Test squad for the rescheduled fifth Test against England in July.

Cheteshwar Pujara scorex 720 runs for Sussex in County Championship

The Saurashtra player was dropped from the squad for the two-match Test series against Sri Lanka in March. Pujara went unsold in the IPL 2022 auction, however, the move turned out to be a blessing in disguise for the 34-year-old.

Pujara was roped in by Sussex to play the County Championship Division Two in the United Kingdom (UK). Pujara fired 720 runs in eight innings at an impressive average of 120 and bagged four hundreds in his short stint with Sussex.

I was just trying to find my old form: Cheteshwar Pujara

Pujara’s stellar form with the willow earned him a call back to India’s red-ball setup and the Saurashtra batter thanked to his association with Sussex that helped him find the momentum.

“You can say that now in hindsight. Had I been picked by an IPL team, there were major chances that I wouldn’t have got any games. I would have just gone (to nets) and practiced. Getting match practice and practice in the nets is always different. So when the county thing happened, I just said yes. The major reason I said yes to the county (stint) is that I wanted my old rhythm back,” Pujara told The Indian Express.

“I was positive, there was no doubt about it. The way my county stint went, I was hopeful that I will make a comeback to the Indian team. But when I went to play county cricket, the India comeback was never on my mind; I just wanted to find my rhythm and I knew one big innings would help me find my rhythm back.

“I was just trying to find my old form. If you look at my innings in the past, I was getting 80s, 90s, so I never felt I was out of form even when the big runs were not coming. I was just hoping to get big runs. Big runs means not 100 but 150-plus scores. Because to get back to my usual concentration level, I needed those big scores. And I found that in England. I found my rhythm and as I got those runs, things began to fall in place,” he added.

India are leading 2-1 in the five-match Test series against England and both teams are scheduled to play the fifth Test between July 1 and 5 in Birmingham.

Also Read: ENG vs IND: Cheteshwar Pujara Back In The Side As BCCI Announces India’s Test Squad vs England