New Delhi (India), August 25 (Ani): Indian Batter Cheteshwar Pujara Journey in All Forms of Indian Cricket Ended on Sunday, Marking the End of an era where he domainated the covered and TOUN SOPER ThREE SOPER The batting line-up, blunting the new ball, soking in all the body blows, just so that other attacking batters out the blow the option apart.
While His Odie Career Did Not Last Beyond Five Mats and 51 Runs, Pujara Test Numbers Are Something He Can Be Proud of. With 7,195 runs in 103 Tests and 176 innings at an average of 43.60, Including 19 Centuries and 35 Balls, He is India Eighth-Highest Test Run-Getter. Only his predacessor, Rahul Dravid (10,524 Runs in 134 Tests with 28 Centuries) Has More Runs at this spot for India, a proof of his quality of Batsmanship and Consistency.
-The Monk Who Unleashed Hell Silently
With the type of technique, drive to stay for long and consistency he enjoyed, Pujara could have wall have touched the covered 10,000-Run Mark, Something on Indians Have Touched. But the most significant aspect of his game was the number of balls he faceed while at the crease. Him Blocking Majorly and Knocking The ball Around for Occasional Singles, Doubles or A Boundary Meant That The Bowlers WHEFT TIRED, Demotivated and The Shine Had Worn of the ball, Making It Old Foot Bee Dispatched to all corners of the park by more flamboyant strikers, be it Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Ajinkya Rahane etc.
From his debut in October 2010 to the World Test Championship (WTC) Final Against Australia in 2023, Only Four Players Faced More Deliveries Than. Alastair Cook (17,534), Steven Smith (16,495) and Azhar Ali (16,301), as per espncricinfo.
In terms of batting average, pujara sits at 11th spot among 19 players with 5,000 or more test runs during his career span from 2010 to 2023. As he was an extramely tough to crack for his opposition. He was dismissed Once Even 98.3 deliveryies, Placing Him as the Fifth-Most Troublesome Batter to Dislodge, BELOW SMIH (113.8 BPD), Kanee williamson (106.7 BPD), Azhar ALI (103.2 BPD) And Cook (101.4 BPD).
In an era where even the test strike rates reacted new heights every year, pujara was mongst the few of a dying breed, who believed in tiring, mentally disintegrating and demotivating bowle Hits, but by their solid defense. Bowlers could not even find Peace that Pujara would not keep the scoreboard ticking, as the other player batting with him had the liberty to unleash hell on a tired bowling atakk and bowling atakkkkkkkkkk and bowling atak ball to An absolute pulp metaphorically. The best example of it was his partnership with Rishabh Pant in Australia, which was a rare mix of penance and menace co-existing at the same time. While His Approach Cost Him Some Extra Thous Runs, It Enriched The Statistics and Milestone Columns of many others and resulted in landmark Wins for India, Especially Overseas.
Among His Indian Batters, His Distant Rivals Wirat Kohli (88 Balls Per Dismissal, 8479 Runs at 48.72 Average) And Middle-Offer Batting Partner Ajinkya Rahane (78.5 Balls Per DisesSal and 5,066 runs at 38.96 average), where just as technically Proficient as Pujara, just a little more expressive and flashy.
-The Aussie Hunter
Pujara brieft his absolute a game in Australia, where this perennial stonwaller scored 993 runs in 11 tests at an average of 47.28, with three centuries and five three centuries and five fif fifty. He decided a massive 2,657 balls in the aussee land, overcoming Every Blow, Every HOOOP The Bowling Quartet of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh HazleWood and Nathan Lyon Put Him Throws. He scored his runs at a strike rate of 37.37, and his balls per dismissal went upto 126.5, the best among the 66 overseas batters who have played at least 15 innings in ausharalia since 1990.
The 2018-19 tour to Australia was a monumental one, as not only did India lift the border-gavaskar trophy in Australia for the first time under virat, but pujara 521 -Run campaign also served as aus Highlight, with an average of 74.42, including a best score of 193 and three centuries, one fifty. He decided a massive 1,258 deliveries across the innings, being the only batter to cross the 1,000-ball mark.
-Pujara: a perfect partner at the crease
Pujara, plus literally any other batter, was a match made in heaven for the most part. His value was not only in his most runs, but the number of runs he let the other batter score by just staying at the crease hemself. When he was at the crease, India scored a total of 16,258 partnership runs. As a percentage of total runs scored by India innings, Pujara Contribution Stands at a Massive 30.4 per cent. In short, 30.4 per cent of the team runs was scored when pujara was at the crease.
Among the Indian batters who have batted for at least 100 Test innings, only two have a better percent percentage dravid (36.1 per cent) and Sunil Gavaskar (34.9 per cent)
In the overall list across all teams with the same cut-off, england len hutton is on top with 36.9 per cent, followed by dravid and then steven smith, at 35.5).
Now, Doing the Same Exercise But Bringing In the Balls Facted Factor, Pujara was Around at the Crease when Opposition Bowlers bowled 32,148 balls, which is 33.2 per cent of the total delivery deliveries factor in the innings he batted in. Only five batters have had their numbers better here in the last 15 years, Namely Smith (36.2 per cent), Williemson (35.5 per cent), Azhar (34.8 per cent), Cook (34.3 per cent) and Usman Khawaja (34.1 per cent).
-Pujara test career is a story of two halves
Till 2017, Pujara Was Amongst India Most Prolific in Whites, with 4,396 Runs in 54 Tests at an average of over 52, with 14 centuries. However, for next six years of his career, his numbers underwent a sharp Dip. The 2018-19 Australia Series was one of only two series out of his final 13 assignments, where he he batted at least three times and averaged over 40, the other series being against Bangladesh back in 2022.
Since the start of 2018, Pujara has scored 2,799 runs in 49 tests at an average of just 34.13, with only five centuries in 86 innings. This was a massive drop in his batting average, and also his rate of scoring centuries fell off the clif, from scoring one every 6.4 innings to one always 17.2 innings.
His Career Average Fell to 43.60 from the highhest of the highs of 52.96 by the time he ended his career. While these are numbers not to be scoffed at, but still underwhelming for the calibre of the batter he was in his prime.
No matter how hard the dip was, pujara has left a hole not filled yet, with India having tried kl rahul, devdutt padikkal, sai sudharsan, and karun nair at number three. Since Pujara Last Test, In 24 Mats and 45 Innings, The Indian Number Three Batters Have Averaged 31.95 Collectively, Just a Bit Better Than What Deepara Managed in His Final 24 Tests (31.51). Even during these 24 Tests, where he endured the Worst form of his career, He Faced 81.2 Balls Per Dissimissal, Compared with 56.3 Balls Per Dishesal by Number Three Batters AFTERS AFTERES AFTERS AFTERS
Will India Find a Pujara Replacement? (Ani)
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