As India’s inexperienced top order crumbled on what seemed to be a good batting wicket on Day 1 of India vs England Test in Rajkot, veteran batter Cheteshwar Pujara was seen batting in nets with the Saurashtra team a few feet away from the game in Niranjan Shah Stadium.
Saurashtra is set to play Manipur in the ongoing Ranji Trophy 2024 from tomorrow and Pujara was diligently doing his preparation in the nets. He was seen playing a couple of solid defensive shots getting his stride forward and a few aggressive shots as well.
Pujara has also recently wrote his name in India domestic cricket record books as he became the fourth batter to cross 20,000 runs in first-class cricket. The 35-year-old has achieved the landmark in 260 matches at an average of 51.96.
India was reduced to 33/3 in the first 9 overs itself with Mark Wood dismissing Yashasvi Jaiswal for 10, and Shubman Gill for a duck. Then Tom Hartley got rid of Rajat Patidar for 5 runs.
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Meanwhile, the absence of Virat Kohli (leave), KL Rahul (injured), and Shreyas Iyer (dropped) led to India having a middle order consisting of Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraz Khan and Dhruv Jurel.
The Indian team management had the option of bringing in Pujara, who has been piling on runs in domestic cricket. But the BCCI selectors have seemingly moved on from him.
