Cheteshwar Pujara: Team India's pride alright, but is he being undervalued?

“Aren't you tired of scoring?” Australian off-spinner Nathan Lyon was heard on the stump mic asking Cheteshwar Pujara this after the latter scored his third hundred of the series on day one of the Sydney Test match. Wrong question, for if there is one thing that Pujara likes more than anything else, it is scoring runs. With this century—his 18^th—the India number three ensured a solid start for his team in the fourth and final Test match of the series. Pujara has earned praise from all over the world as much as for his run-scoring feats as for his soft demeanour.

Former players believe that Pujara, who plays only the long format for India, deserves more respect and acknowledgement for being what he is—one of the most valuable Test players of the country.

Pujara was put in the A category by the Committee of Administrators last year. It is the second grade, after the CoA created A+ category which includes the likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah. Players in the the A+ category get a retainer fee of Rs 7 crore for the season. Grade A category, which has a retainer fee of Rs 5 crore, includes R. Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Murali Vijay, Ajinkya Rahane, M.S. Dhoni and Wriddhiman Saha.

This particular series has seen Pujara star despite the presence of a certain batting great called Virat Kohli. He was one of the key architects of the Melbourne Test victory last week. The manner in which he has calmly gone about doing his work—playing balls, grinding out opposition bowlers and accumulating runs at his pace—makes his dropping from the playing XI in the first Test in Edgbaston against England last year look even more preposterous in hindsight. Since then, he has scored four centuries and two half-centuries, and 809 runs at an average of 53.93. This is his fifth Test hundred against the Aussies. Since Edgbaston, Pujara has faced 2,005 deliveries—no other player has faced as many in the same period.

He also entered the record books by joining the exclusive club of Indians scoring three or more Test tons in a series outside the subcontinent. Needless to say, the legendary Sunil Gavaskar and current Indian skipper Virat Kohli top the list with four tons while Pujara joins the likes of Dilip Sardesai and Rahul Dravid.

Batting on 130 not out in ongoing Sydney Test, he has already amassed 441 runs on this tour.

“Nothing ruffles him,” said former India player Laxman Sivaramakrishnan. “He simply loves to occupy the crease. He clearly enjoys his defence... in that way he is very similar to Rahul Dravid. Bats long periods of time,” he said. The former leg-spinner is effusive in Pujara's praise. Understandably, Laxman is unhappy that Pujara has not been valued enough by the BCCI. “We want to produce Test cricketers of high quality or Twenty20 players attracting big bucks? If we want our players to excel in Test cricket, then someone like Pujara, who is a key player of the Test team, should be in the highest grade. He is a greater, more valuable cricketer.

“The IPL governing council or the BCCI should compensate Pujara,” said Sivaramakrishnan. Pujara has not been bought by any franchise nor is he in the scheme of things in white-ball cricket for Team India.

Said former India player and selector Yashpal Sharma, “Pujara should always be in the playing XI." He is still astounded by Pujara's omission on the England tour. The entire debate over his slow strike rate also appears to have been put to rest, especially after his Melbourne vigil. “There will be phases in a Test match where bowlers are dominant. There's nothing wrong in being defensive. The runs will come eventually once the bowlers tire out,” said Sharma.