Will Cheteshwar Pujara's Absence Hurt India vs Australia? Ex-Star Gives Big Verdict

Former all-rounder Shane Watson on Tuesday backed the Indian pace attack to dominate Australia in their own backyard, provided the visiting bowlers are rotated well during what is expected to be a gruelling tour. India's series wins on each of their two pervious tours to Australia has added spice to the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy, which will comprise five Tests starting on November 22 in Perth. "India's pace attack will be where they predominantly win that series. They've got the firepower to be able to do it, but to be able to do it five Test matches in a row in Australia, they'll have to rotate them as well," Watson told the media during the launch of the International Masters League.

"There's no question, even though (Ravichandran) Ashwin obviously is a ridiculously skilled bowler in all conditions, same with (Ravindra) Jadeja, but the assistance won't be there as consistent as it is in other parts of the world.

"They'll still be effective, but how effective they'll be, that'll be the test and that'll be the challenge for the Aussie batters," he added.

India's wins in 2018-19 and 2020-21, to a large extent, were achieved owing to Cheteshwar Pujara's stoic resistance with the bat, but Watson does not feel that his absence would make any impact on the visitors.

"When you talk about Pujara is (that) he just doesn't make a mistake. Whereas you've seen so many of these incredible batters for India, top-order batters like (Yashasvi) Jaiswal, he has scored runs very quickly, but he hasn't made a mistake," he said.

"He hasn't really given the opposition a chance to be able to get him out. If those type of batters do come out to Australia and play aggressively, put the bad balls away and put the pressure on the Aussie