5 Test specialists who failed to impress in the IPL

5. Cheteshwar Pujara – Kolkata Knight Riders, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Kings XI Punjab

There is no denial of the fact that Cheteshwar Pujara is arguably the best Test batsman of India. Despite his consistent numbers in Test cricket, Pujara never got the respect he deserved in the IPL. He went unsold at two consecutive auctions in 2016 and 2017 which brings the disparity between technically sound batsman and the hard hitters of the game.

His IPL debut came in the 2010 season for the Kolkata Knight Riders for whom he scored 10 runs on debut. He played a few games for KKR before moving to the RCB franchise. He got very few games under his belt for RCB and was then picked up by the Kings XI Punjab in 2014 edition. KXIP promoted him to the opener slot hoping that he would extract the most in the powerplay and then manage to keep wickets intact as well.

In the 30 IPL matches that he played in, he scored 390 runs with an average as low as 20.53. Now, compare that to his stunning numbers in Test cricket where he averages close to 50 and is known as the mainstay of the Indian batting line up. Pujara has time and again expressed his desire to play in the shortest format of the game.