India’s former batter Cheteshwar Pujara has picked Murali Vijay, Wriddhiman Saha, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar as the three underrated teammates in the Indian side during his playing days. Pujara said Kumar could not have a long Test career because of injuries.
The former Indian number three reckons Saha didn’t get many opportunities as MS Dhoni was India’s captain. Pujara picked Murali Vijay as the best opener he played with in the Indian team.
Cheteshwar Pujara told Sports Today, “If I have to pick a few, I would go with Murali Vijay, Wriddhiman Saha and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. All three were exceptional players. Unfortunately, Bhuvi was injured and he couldn’t carry on playing Test cricket for a long time but he was an exceptional bowler. Wriddhiman Saha has been an exceptional wicketkeeper and a batter. But he was born in an era when Mahi bhai (MS Dhoni) was captain and then after that he didn’t get a lot of matches to play for the Indian team and Rishabh Pant also came in so he missed out.”
“Murali Vijay, again an exceptional opener, I think one of the best openers I have played my cricket with, because if you are a number three player you want the best opener out there. I have had a lot of great partnerships with Vijay, and he is also one of the best Test openers I have seen.”
Bhuvneshwar Kumar played only 21 Test matches for India, whereas Saha played 40 Test matches. Vijay scored 3982 runs in 61 Test matches for the country, and he was known for his solid technique at the top of the order.
On the other hand, Pujara picked his predecessor, Rahul Dravid, to bat for his life and said he admired Brian Lara as an overseas batter the most.
“I would go with Rahul bhai, Rahul Dravid.I would go with Brian Lara because when I was young, I grew up watching Sachin paaji. Brian Lara scored so many runs. I admired his batting a lot, the way he used to dominate in Test cricket,” he said.
Pujara announced his retirement after playing 103 Tests and 5 ODIs for India on Sunday. He scored 7,195 Test runs at an average of 43.60, with 19 hundreds and 35 fifties.
