IND vs ENG: Stuart Broad questions Cheteshwar Pujara's absence from Indian team

India’s inexperienced middle order was once again put to Test by England on Day 2 of the fourth Test in Ranchi as they were left reeling at 219/7 trailing by 134 runs at stumps. Off Spinner Shoaib Bashir was the tormenter-in-chief of the hosts who picked 4/84 and brought England in a commanding position in the match.

Following another disappointing outing by Indian batters, former England fast bowler Stuart Broad felt that the Rohit Sharma-led side would’ve been reinforced with the inclusion of Cheteshwar Pujara in the absence of Virat Kohli. The 37-year-old asked if Pujara was completely out of contention as he would’ve brought consistency and anchored through the Indian innings.

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“With the experience & world class talent of Kohli missing, would there have been temptation to bring back Pujara into this India batting line up? Or is his international career over? Feels like he could have brought some consistency and an anchor,” wrote Broad on his X account.

Notably, Pujara is in sensational form in the ongoing Ranji Trophy 2024 being the fourth highest run scorer of the season. The 36-year-old has amassed 783 runs in the season so far from 12 innings at an average of 71.18 with three hundreds and two fifties to his name. He started the season with a marathon knock of 243* against Jharkhand which remains his highest score. He further scored a brilliant 91 against Services followed by back-to-back hundreds against Rajasthan and Manipur.

Yashasvi Jaiswal continues his golden run against England

Meanwhile, just like the first innings of the second Test, Yashavi Jaiswal was the lone warrior for India on Day 2 with his magnificent knock of 73 (117). The southpaw clobbered eight fours and a six during his knock as he surpassed the 600-run mark in the series and became the fifth Indian batter to achieve the feat.

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He got involved in an 82-run stand with Shubman Gill (38 off 65) for the second wicket after captain Rohit Sharma (2 off 9) departed early. However, after their partnership ended no other batter could survive on the treacherous Ranchi surface. The defiant pair of Kuldeep Yadav (17* off 72) and Dhruv Jurel (30* off 58) took India to stumps with their unbeaten 42-run stand for the eighth wicket.