India's rock at No.3 in the game's toughest format, Cheteshwar Pujara, picked his skipper Virat Kohli and Australia's Steve Smith, two of the modern-day greats, in his World Test XI.
Speaking to renowned commentator Harsha Bhogle on 'Cricbuzz in Conversation', when asked to put together a line-up of some of the best Test cricketers around, Pujara quickly named both Smith and Kohli to strengthen his middle-order.
While Smith has been an amazing batsman for Australia with an average 62.84 for 7,227 runs after 73 Tests, Kohli too continues to lead the Indian run charts, scoring 7,240 runs at an average of 53.63 across 86 Tests.
Pujara picked Kohli to bat at No.4 in this team as well, followed by Smith at No.5, a position slightly lower for the batsman of his quality, but that's down to the embarrassment of riches Pujara had.
Picking his openers, he slotted Smith's mate David Warner and, in a very interesting choice, New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson, at the top of the order. Williamson usually bats in the middle-order for his country, but Pujara was desperate to have him in.
At No.3, in a selection that nobody would mind, Pujara placed himself, having now shouldered the Indian batting for almost a decade.
The wicketkeeper batsman in Pujara's team was another Kiwi, the quiet but mighty effective, BJ Watling.
For the all-rounder slot, Pujara went with England star Ben Stokes.
The fast bowling department had most bases covered with Jasprit Bumrah, Kagiso Rabada and Pat Cummins.
For spin, Pujara didn't have to look too far away from Ravichandran Ashwin.
He also picked Ashwin's spin partner Ravindra Jadeja as 12th man and Mohammad Shami as the 13th man.
Cheteshwar Pujara's World Test XI: David Warner, Kane Williamson, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Steve Smith, Ben Stokes, BJ Watling (Wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Pat Cummins, Kagiso Rabada, Ravindra Jadeja (12th man), Mohammad Shami(13th man).
