Sri Lanka v India, 3rd Test, Day 2 - The day belongs to Cheteshwar Pujara

Are you sure that Cheteshwar Pujara will feature in the upcoming heavyweight series against South Africa? Will the obsession regarding an overrated Sharma come to an end? In the subcontinent, obsession bears more weight than a classic performer. Isn’t it?

As, for example, in Bangladesh, a section of people are still obsessed with the men of yesterday – Mohammad Ashraful, Naim Islam and Abdur Razzak and they even want them in the team at the cost of Mominul Haque, Mahmudullah Riyad and Liton Kumar Das. Obsession is a very dangerous psychiatric disorder by which most of the so called subcontinental cricket experts and high officials are affected and among the Bangladeshi so-called experts there are plenty of patients of obsessive compulsive disorder.

Today, Pujara has been a delight for those who actually understands the true meaning of ideal batsmanship. Batsmen like Pujara reminds us that a relationship between a husband and wife can last for eternity while the likes of Rohit Sharma or any other bloody Twenty20 star batsman only reminds us about one night stay in the hotel. Test cricket, the ultimate format of the game, is not for the street Romeos of Twenty20 taamasha. But, it’s for the toughest characters who have the technique and temperament to face the challenge. Pujara is a tough guy. Pujara is the batsman to watch.

The situation was not rosy at Colombo. The track was not a friendly one. But, when someone has the best technique under his belt, then what is the issue? While the other rockstars of the Indian team struggled, Pujara maintained his composure to notch-up one of the finest hundreds of the year 2015. Certainly, we have witnessed some memorable knocks in 2015 so far and Pujara’s knock deserved to be right up there among the top five best knocks of this year. Well, his knock was not all about scoring a hundred, but pulling the Indian team out of the mud was another act which he did masterfully today. His partnership with Amit Mishra reminded us about Laxman marshalling the tail. Am I wrong? No, I am not wrong at all.  

What does Pujara need to claim a permanent place in the Indian team? I don’t wish to think about the betterment of a team, but I am more interested about the betterment of Test cricket and for the betterment of Test cricket, Pujara is needed. The Indian hierarchy must not ignore him from the Test XI.

Thank You
Faisal Caesar