I have always had a soft corner for Cheteshwar Pujara, but I don't know why! So when I got to know that he will be trying to fill in the mighty shoes of VVS Laxman in second test against Aussies in 2010, I was too happy to say the least.
First of all, the manner in which India won is commendable. India never dominated the entire five days of both the test matches. But when it mattered the most,It was India that stood up to be counted. No doubt, this series belonged to Sachin Tendulkar, Zaheer Khan and VVS Laxman. But you might have seen that advertisement of a Kid asking his dad to have his nameplate, similar to the one he has in the office. So like this kid, some of the youngsters including Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Pragyan Ojha have only stood up to be recognised against the stalwarts whose career span is probably more than the age of these youngsters.
Cheteshwar Pujara has been a prolific scorer in domestic cricket averaging nearly 60. on 26th november,2009 I had written a post about the possibility of Pujara being the next dravid.
http://www.royalchallengers.com/fan-club/the_next_dravid/
Now, when I see that happening, I am more than happy. Probably, according to my cricketing knowledge, no one in the domestic circuit is more technically sound than Pujara. He has been sucessful of retaining the image of technically sound player even during the times of T-20's and IPL's. But the next question is whether he is the perfect guy to replace the mighty Rahul Dravid when the latter decides to hang his boots?
Everything is twice as large in this case. It is like measuring a three year old's three foot scale on a thirty year old's six foot scale. Now, Rahul Dravid has been synonymous with the number three position. You think of bottled water, Bisleri comes to your mind, you think of photocopy machine, Xerox comes to your mind and when you think of number three position, only Dravid comes to your mind. So when the 22 year old Pujara walked on to the ground instead of Dravid during the second test, even the Aussies were surprised.
It is only apt that the guy who is touted as a replacement for Dravid made his debut in Chinnaswamy Stadium, where Dravid has learnt the abc's of cricket. When he came in to bat, the odds were stacked against India. But the maturity displayed by this 22 year old won the hearts of many.
It may be too early to decide whether India has found a gem in Pujara, But what Dhoni can do is consider Pujara in the scheme of things for the future. India certainly doesn't want a situation like that of Aussies when the major stars retire. So the right thing to do would be keep grooming players like Vijay, Pujara, Raina, Ojha, etc. They can be played in rotation, so that they get enough exposure to International test cricket. Thus, we can ensure that we are no one time wonders in getting to the top of ICC rankings, We are capable of retaining it!
