Gloucestershire sign Cheteshwar Pujara for County Championship

India’s batting maestro Cheteshwar Pujara has been signed up by English cricket county Gloucestershire. The right-hander will be available for the first six matches of the county championship. Given his ability to concentrate for a long time and score big hundreds, Pujara is a very good signing by the county side to boost their side by including him.

This is not the first time the Saurashtra batsman will play in the England county circuit. He has previously turned out for the likes of Derbyshire, Yorkshire, and Nottinghamshire in the County Championship. The head coach of the Gloucestershire county Richard Dawson was very happy with the signing.

“Cheteshwar is a player with a great temperament who will add international experience to the squad. He is undoubtedly one of the best batsmen in world cricket and we are very fortunate to have him in our squad for the start of the County Championship campaign. Adding Pujara to a strong batting line-up gives me great confidence ahead of our opening County Championship matches,” he was quoted by gloscricket.co.uk.

‘Really excited to get the opportunity’: Cheteshwar Pujara

Pujara became the second Indian to play for Gloucestershire, after Javagal Srinath, who represented the side in 1995. He picked 87 wickets in the solitary season and credited his experience at the county in shaping his career and outlook at professional cricket.

“I am really excited to get the opportunity to represent Gloucestershire this season. The Club has a rich cricketing history, and this is a great opportunity to be a part of it and contribute to its success,” said Pujara.

Pujara had made his Test debut in 2010 against Australia and scored a valuable half-century in the second innings, helping his team win the match. He has an incredible batting average of 49.48 in Test cricket with 206* being his high score and averages 53.99 with a high score of 352 in First-Class cricket.

“I am grateful to the Club for giving me this opportunity and cannot wait to get to Bristol to meet my teammates and score some runs. I have really enjoyed the experience of coming over to the UK and playing county cricket over the last few years and I am looking forward to building on that whilst continuing to improve my game,” Pujara signed off.

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