"Cheteshwar Pujara Will Be A Big Miss" During Upcoming Australia Test Series: Hanuma Vihari

Hanuma Vihari, part of India's back to back series wins in Australia, reckons the services of veteran batter Cheteshwar Pujara will be be dearly missed when the team aims for a hat-trick Down Under later this year. The five Test series begins in Perth from November 22. Out of favour Pujara was the leading run-getter in the 2018-19 series with 521 off 1258 balls and was once again the backbone of Indian batting three years later when he accumulated 271 runs off 928 balls.

Across the two teams, the 103-Test veteran by far faced the number of balls to wear out the opposition attack comprising Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc.

As another Border-Gavaskar Trophy is on the horizon, Vihari wondered who can play Pujara's role this time around.

"Pujara will be a big miss. he was the backbone of the batting line-up in the last two series for Team India. He took blows, he batted time, he stayed there for a long time, he saw the new ball, he got runs. He made the job easier for the other batters coming in," Vihari told PTI in an interaction arranged by JioCinema.

"So that kind of role... who will play is a question mark for me. Currently I would say we have an attacking mode of a batting line up (the top six). All like to play their shots. Virat is the only one I feel in that batting line up who can be like a glue to the other batters.

"He can stay on and bat the most number of overs and you know batting in Australia is all about time. If you see off the new ball, it gets a little easier with the older Kookaburra ball," added Vihari who played the last of his 16 Tests in July 2022.

In the absence of Pujara, he also sees a significant role for K L Rahul at number six. He feels Risabh Pant is best suited at number five.