Cheteshwar Pujara as important as Kohli in Indian side feels former India captain Sourav Ganguly

Indian skipper Virat Kohli with his consistent performance in all the three formats of the game has become the most important part of the Indian cricket at the moment. Kohli was in supreme form during his last outing for India against South Africa in South Africa. However, former India captain Sourav Ganguly feels that there’s another player in the Indian side who is as good as skipper Kohli in the 5-day format. According to Ganguly, 30-year-old Cheteshwar Pujara is as good as the Indian skipper but is someone who goes “unnoticed”.

The former India captain was in Kolkata for the launch of his biography ‘A Century Is Not Enough’ which was attended by for India player VVS Laxman along with Harbhajan Singh and Cheteshwar Pujara himself.

Pujara from the old school of cricket

Ganguly while addressing the audience during the book launch felt that right-handed Pujara belongs to the old school of cricket where he will do a lot of hard work and win matches for you but nobody will give a lot of attention to it. “Along with Virat Kohli in this team, Pujara’s record is as good as anybody. He’s from that old school of cricket where he will grind you, and win you matches but he goes unnoticed,” said Ganguly.

According to Ganguly, best teams always have a best number three batsman in their side. “The best team had the best number three. When India played at its best the best number three was (Rahul) Dravid. When India played at its best away, it’s Pujara at number three,” Ganguly added.

Ganguly felt that the batter who comes at number 3 helps the player coming down the order by taking the shine off from the ball through their batting. Ganguly while pointing Pujara’s 14 hundreds felt that he was an important player as Kohli in the Indian Test side.

“They actually take the shine off the new ball, allow the stroke-makers to make batting easier. He (Pujara) is as important to this Test team as Virat Kohli. But sometimes he goes unnoticed. Look at his Test records, after 57 Tests, he has 14 hundred,” Ganguly told the audience.