Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt believes that India can bring in uncapped Suryakumar Yadav in place of the struggling batsman Cheteshwar Pujara in the upcoming Tests of the ongoing five-match Test series against England.
Suryakumar alongside Prithvi Shaw is currently quarantining in the UK and the Indian cricket team may change their batting line-up from the next Test match, as the middle-order batsmen Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane are badly struggling to get runs against England.
Despite scoring mere 8 and 15 runs in the World Test Championship (WTC) final against New Zealand, Pujara was given the opportunity in the first two Tests, but he could only score 4, 12* and 9 in his three outings against England with one innings left at Lord’s.
Given Pujara’s poor form, Butt said Suryakumar can replace the veteran batsman but said wouldn’t be an easy task for any newcomer to face James Anderson-led England pace attack in the testing conditions, where even the home batters could not score much.
Butt said on his YouTube channel, “Pujara is struggling. The conditions are also tough. If India wants, they can give Suryakumar Yadav a chance. It all depends on what Virat Kohli thinks, what the coach thinks. As of now, three innings have been played. I feel it is too early to bring in a youngster in such testing conditions. It will be a really tough task for him. Pujara, on the other hand, is dependable and he has performed before in these conditions. He has failed so far but let’s give him one more Test.”
He continued, “For anyone youngster coming one-down, facing James Anderson and the other bowlers… England has a very good attack and the conditions are quite difficult. Look at the England players. Playing at home, the top three are hardly able to do anything substantial.”
However, former Pakistan captain admitted that Pujara and Rahane are out of form but feels it would be too early to replace the senior batsmen in the ongoing Test series against England.
Butt signed off by saying, “Both Pujara and Rahane are India’s top-class players. Sadly, they are not in form. But if you replace someone in the middle of the series, this is only the second Test, the pressure increases on the dropped player as well as on the one who is coming in. It will not be easy for another batter to come in and perform in English conditions. They (Pujara and Rahane) have played three innings so far and, according to me, it is too early to replace them.”
