‘Mere taraf se naa hai’ – Fans react as Cheteshwar Pujara says he still hopes of returning to national team

Cheteshwar Pujara has been active in County Cricket following his poor show in the World Test Championship 2021-23 final against Australia. Notably, Pujara was the only Indian batter with considerable practice in the red-ball game due to his commitments with Sussex. However, he dropped a terrible performance in the coveted final despite being in good touch scoring heaps of runs for Sussex. Recently, the batter also performed well in white-ball cricket leading to increased self-confidence.

He has recently revealed that he is hopeful for an Indian team comeback. “Look, I always try and control the things which I can. It’s always about getting as many runs as possible in whatever games I play,” Pujara was quoted as saying in an interview with Sussex Cricket. “I am still in the scheme of things. So, I hope that the moment I start scoring more runs in first-class games, I will be back in the team. But I will try and be in the present, try and take one game at a time. We are not going to play any more Test matches in the next two to three months. The next Test series is in South Africa in December. So, there is a long way to go.” he stated.

Cheteshwar Pujara has scored two centuries in four games of the One-Day Cup

The red-ball specialist who has 103 Test under his belt, has been on fire in the English County One-Day Cup. He smashed an unbeaten 106 against Northamptonshire and followed it up with 117* against Somerset to guide Sussex to a victory. He now has two centuries in just four games in the tournament. Moreover, he also slammed a half-century against Derbyshire to make it three 50+ scores in four games.

Cheteshwar Pujara was replaced by Shubman Gill in the number 3 role during the two-match Test series against West Indies. He did not enjoy a great series but will be expected to be rewarded with a longer run for his red-hot form in the other formats. However, Pujara can seek inspiration from Ajinkya Rahane who made his comeback possible with his strong performances in other formats. Just like Pujara, Rahane is also not getting any younger but still could pull off a comeback despite the availability of younger options.

Here’s how fans reacted:

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