The curious case of Cheteshwar Pujara

Cheteshwar Pujara

After a stellar show versus the West Indies and scoring his fifth century in 15 Test matches, the Saurashtra skipper has been making all the right noises in the selection committee meetings for inclusion in ODI squad. Post retirement of Rahul Dravid, Pujara has been seen as his possible replacement at the coveted number 3 spot in the national Test side.

There hasn’t been much doubt about his technique and temperament in the longer version of the game, but the same Pujara, known for possessing a variety of shots in his repertoire, has been repeatedly overlooked for selection into the ODI squad. There are several possible reasons for his being away from the one day format of the game, leave alone the T20s.

The board is not keen on losing a talent like Pujara to the generation of slam bang cricket where revered are those with burly shoulders, long handles and thick and wide blades, those who can hit the ball hard and long on frequent basis. Pujara is certainly not one of them. He would still love to enjoy leaning into the drive he just caressed passed the extra cover fielder instead of playing one of those switch-hits which David Warner or Kevin Pietersen are proud to possess in their armoury.

Pujara idolizes a cricketer who himself has scored a percent of a million runs in ODI cricket,  but gone are the days when Dravid’s temperament was invaluable to construct an innings. He would put down his anchor and the others would revolve around him in the days of yore. But the changed field restrictions and introduction of powerplays have changed the dynamics of the game.

To compound the worries, as Ian Chappell says: ‘thicker and heavier bats, small boundaries and batsmen friendly pitches’ have caused bigger scores and more boundaries to be hit. Teams are looking for utility cricketers who can both bowl and bat besides fielding, because of which players like Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh get the nod ahead of the likes of Pujara.

For a player of the caliber of Pujara, it is a state of emotional ambiguity regarding what he should aim for. Should he keep his head down and play the ultimate form of the game? Or should he modify his style of play to be included in the squads playing limited overs cricket and earn the riches which players with lesser ability are making in millions?