Can Pujara Step into Rahul Dravid\'s Shoes?

Courtesy of Haresh PandyaCheteshwar Pujara at a training session in Rajkot, Gujarat, in this 2011 photo.

One of the features of India's recently concluded cricket series of two five-day test matches against New Zealand was Cheteshwar Pujara. Out of the national team for more than a year because of a knee injury sustained during the fourth Indian Premier League season in 2011, he celebrated his return to test cricket in August with a brilliant innings of 159 in Hyderabad, followed by an important innings of 48 at a crucial juncture, when India was chasing a victory target of 261 runs, in Bangalore.

India's captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, too, hailed Pujara's pe rformance and expressed hope that the young man would continue to score runs with a fair degree of regularity. Dhoni said good batting by Pujara and Virat Kohli was one of the major factors in India's decisive wins in both test matches.

Pujara, 24, said he wants to make up for the opportunities missed. “Of course, you can't help illness and injury,” he said in an interview at his home in Rajkot in the western Indian state of Gujarat. “But I still regret having missed important tours of England and Australia. Now that I've made a comeback, I want to score plenty of runs and help India win more and more test matches.”

He said he was confident that his previous knee injury won't affect the intensity of his effort.

“Having suffered injuries more than once, and being out of Team India for a bit too long because of them, I'm obviously very careful not to get injured again,” he said. “But then you don't think of injuries for the sake of your team. When you're fielding, you've to try your best to stop the ball, to save every run and to take the most difficult of catches regardless of the possibility of getting injured while doing so. Cricket is a team sport, not an individual one, after all.”

He has maintained the good form with the bat, which he showed against New Zealand and in plundering runs in India's domestic season. He scored 78 runs in his only innings while serving as captain for the Rest of India in the annual Irani Cup match against the Ranji Trophy (India's national cricket championship) winner Rajasthan at Bangalore in September.

Pujara then went on to dominate the 50-overs-a-side N.K.P. Salve Challenger Trophy in Rajkot with his spectacular performance, both as a batsman and as captain of India B earlier this month. He scored 158 not out, 124 not out and 79 and played a pivotal role in winning the title for India B.

Courtesy of Haresh PandyaCheteshwar Pujara.

Considered a possible heir to India's most compact and dependable middle-order batsman, Rahul Dravid, who has now retired, Pujara's success against New Zealand has led many to believe that he may have filled the void. But Pujara disagreed: “I can't even dream of replacing a truly great batsman like Dravid. Nobody can replace him or fill the gap he has left. Dravid has been a legend. I've a long way to go and a lot to prove. I want to be just myself â€" always â€" and bring laurels to my country in my own humble way. But it's a big motivation for me that people compare me with Dravid.”

Dravid himself praised Pujara after his stellar performance in Hyderabad. Pujara said the text message from the cricket star read: “Congratulations! You're doing very well. Keep it up.”

It's clear why Pujara is invariably compared with Dravid. Pujara, too, is endowed with classical technique and sound temperament, which enable him to bat correctly and confidently against fast as well as spin bowlers. Dravid was famous for his Promethean determination and penchant for making big scores as a batsman. And opponents have already begun fearing Pujara's concentration, steely resolve and hunger for success.

“You don't have to watch Pujara long to judge how technically perfect he is,” said the former Indian wicketkeeper Nayan Mongia. “He has a large repertoire of shots and plays all of them so well that it's hard to single out a particular one and say it's his best.”

Pujara had been marked as India's future batting star since his junior cricket days, having played innings of 138 and 306 not out against Mumbai and Baroda, respectively, in th e West Zone Under-14 tournament in 2000-01. After his terrific success in the Afro-Asia Cup and the Under-19 World Cup in Sri Lanka in 2006, where he made 97 against West Indies and 129 not out versus England, no one was in any doubt about his talent.

He continued scoring consistently heavily when he graduated to first-class cricket and began representing Saurashtra, West Zone and India A. He had been scoring centuries, double centuries and even triple centuries and it was only a matter of time before he was called for national duty. In his India debut, he played an invaluable innings of 72 when India successfully chased a target of 207 runs after a few early hiccups in the second test against Australia at Bangalore in October 2010.

Though he did not score prolifically in his next two tests on the following tour of South Africa in 2010-11, he was one of the few Indian batsmen who impressed with his patience and perseverance, technique and temperament, against Dal e Steyn of South Africa and other hostile fast bowlers. Despite not being conspicuously successful in purely statistical terms, Pujara won rich encomia from those who matter in world cricket.

“Pujara may not have scored too many runs against South Africa, but I was most impressed by the right application and character he showed against a formidable team on a foreign soil,” said Gundappa Viswanath, the former batting great and former chairman of selectors. “He looked like he belonged, and you couldn't say this about many other Indian batsmen, howsoever experienced.”

Pujara's father, Arvind, a former Indian railways employee who represented Saurashtra in the Ranji Trophy, is his only coach. “I still train under my father whenever I'm free and in Rajkot,” said Pujara, an only child. “Even when I'm away and playing, I keep in touch with him and we regularly discuss my cricket. He has dedicated his life to my cricket. My mother, who succumbed to cancer i n 2005 when I was playing a match away from Rajkot, always wanted me to play for India. It was her dream, even obsession, that I represent India. She would obviously have been delighted today.”

Regarded as a test match specialist, Pujara is not part of India's team for One-Day Internationals and Twenty20 matches. India is scheduled to play four tests against England at home from Nov. 15 to Dec. 17. The much welcome rest should do Pujara a world of good, for he has had a grueling cricket schedule.

But he is eager to cement his place in Team India. “I'm keen and determined to score plenty of runs against England and help India win the test series,” he said.