Rahul, Jaiswal To Open: Cheteshwar Pujara Makes Bold No. 3 Call For India's Test XI
The departures of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have given the Indian team management almost a blank slate to work with ahead of the start of the England tour. While a few names like KL Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Shubman Gill are confirmed, the think tank has to put its head together to structure the rest of the batting line-up. Cheteswhar Pujara, one of India's finest No. 3 batters in recent times, has shared his ideas on the puzzle that the team has to resolve.
"The openers who batted in Australia in the BGT (Border-Gavaskar Trophy) series -- KL Rahul and Yashasvi, should continue. Now talking about no.3, at this stage we don't know whether Shubman will bat there or drop down to No.4," Pujara said on Sunday during an online interaction organised by Sony Sports Network.
Though Pujara wants Gill to bat at the No. 3 spot, he does see him making a slight change and taking up the No. 4 spot instead. If that happens, Gill wants Abhimanyu Easwaran, Sai Sudharsan or Karun Nair to take up the role. Pujara fancies Sudharsan and Easwaran more for the one-down spot.
"If Shubman bats at No.4, then someone like Abhimanyu Eswaran or Karun Nair could be a good fit at that position, but I would still like to see Shubman batting at No.3," he added."
Someone like Karun who has done very well in domestic cricket, I think ideal position for Karun would be No.4. If Shubman bats at No.3, then Karun Nair comes at No.4. If Shubman bats at No.4, then at No.3 it would be a choice between Abhimanyu Eswaran or Sai Sudharsan," he said.
With Gill leading the India team in his first assignment away from home in England, Pujara expects the young star to face a significant challenge.
"When he goes to England, and when he starts his preparation, he will understand that these are the shots which he can play while the ball is new. Plus, there are some shots that you need to avoid when the ball is new, and it's swinging or seaming around a bit. I would say it's very similar to what you get in Australia ,where the ball does a bit more for the first 25-30 overs and then it settles down a bit," Pujara said.
"So, once the ball gets old, you as a batter, you can play a few more shots. But if he is batting at number 3 or 4 and India loses one or two wickets early on, then he might have to change his game a bit. He is capable enough to do that, and once he goes there, I am sure he will understand what he has to do," he added.
Listen to the latest songs, only on JioSaavn.com
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Mint
23 minutes ago
- Mint
How Indian sprinter Rupal Chaudhary overcame injury to emerge a winner
In August 2022, Rupal Chaudhary won two medals at the World Athletics U-20 Championships. She took silver as part of the 4x400 mixed relay team where they smashed the Asian record. Then, in the women's 400 metres, she clocked a personal best of 51.85 seconds, the sixth fastest time among juniors that year. As the first Indian to win two medals at the U-20 World Championships, the teenager from Shahpur Jainpur near Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, had announced her arrival in style. Also read: How Indian distance runner Gulveer Singh trains for speed and endurance Three months later, however, the quarter miler went missing from the competitive circuit. An injury during training left her with a tear in the anterior cruciate ligament as well as the meniscus. She spent most of 2023 in rehab, longing to get back to the track and continue where she had left off. Even as she was finding her form again, an illness resulted in missing out on the Paris Olympics. Those months taught Chaudhary a lot about patience. This May, at the Asian Athletics Championships in Gumi, South Korea – her first major competition since the injury, Chaudhary wanted to simply run as fast as she could. She first took silver in the women's 400 metre, and followed it up with two gold medals in the mixed and women's 4x400m relay. 'I'm happy with my performance, but not satisfied. You'll see a different joy on my face when I'll be satisfied. But yes, I'm relieved to see that it's all coming together for me again," Chaudhary, 20, says. Midway through 2023, Chaudhary remembers a testing period that left her disturbed. She had just about resumed training, but a heavy load in preparation for the Asian Games trials left her injured again. She disconnected from the world and kept to herself back home, uncertain of what the future had in store. It was only after her parents talked her out of it that she connected with coach James Hillier, who asked her to travel to Mumbai to get treated. An extended period of rehabilitation under Dr Dinshaw Pardiwala followed. She resumed training and six months later at her first race, clocked 52.79 seconds. 'That race made me realise that I could do really well because I had been away from the track for about a year-and-a-half and still managed that timing. Then, in the months ahead when I wasn't running very well, my timing went up to 53-54 seconds. But that's as bad as it got. During that time, I saw some highs as well as lows both of which were enough motivation to keep putting in the work," she says. Also read: Pain, persistence and teamwork: What I learnt from my first Hyrox race Since December 2024, Chaudhary has been working with coach Jason Dawson at the national camp in Thiruvananthapuram. Her first race this year was the Indian Open 400m Competition in March, where she took gold (52.41s) ahead of more experienced runners like Vithya Ramraj and Sneha K. 'I was taking on full workout loads before that event and I just had a day's break before the race. The coach asked me to approach it like a training session," she says. A month later, she beat Vithya and Sneha again to take gold (52.55s) at the National Federation Senior Athletics Championships. She had trained for just two weeks while recovering from a minor back injury. 'The consistency of the timing was really satisfying. It gave me belief in my abilities and I realised that if my training is not hampered, I can get the results. And yes, winning against opponents who are older and more experienced is a lot of motivation to keep improving," she says. The journey of discovering has been a constant since Chaudhury found the joy of running at school in 2017. At the physical education teacher's insistence, Chaudhary and her father, Omveer Singh, started travelling 23km – each way – to get to the Kailash Prakash Stadium in Meerut. Her father would spend hours watching her train, bring her back home, and then attend to the fields. 'Those days, my father didn't have timely meals nor enough rest. Our only income is farming and he couldn't focus on it either because of my training. So he refused to take me to the stadium after a few days," she recalls. Chaudhary was hurt and didn't eat for three days in protest. It was only after her mother, Mamta Devi, played peacemaker that her father agreed to let her train again. 'He gave me a year to win a medal at the Nationals and I was aware that it was the only way I could continue running," she says. A year after she took to regimented training, Chaudhary won gold in the 600 metre event at the Junior U-14 Nationals. There's been no stopping her ever since. Shail Desai is a Mumbai-based freelance writer. Also read: Running Through Hell: Meet the runners who conquered India's toughest desert ultramarathon
News18
29 minutes ago
- News18
Bent Railings, Scattered Shoes: Visuals Show Bengaluru's Haunting Trail Of Deadly Stampede
Last Updated: From scattered shoes and slippers to broken gates and trampled jerseys, the videos and photos showed the chaos left on the street after the tragic incident. Twisted railings at the Karnataka Vidhana Soudha, footwear strewing across entry points, parts of broken iron gates lying across Bengaluru as the city is reeling from the stampede that unfolded during Royal Challengers Bengaluru's (RCB) IPL victory celebrations on Wednesday. The horrifying visuals showcased the aftermath of the stampede tragedy outside the M Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru. At least 11 people died and 75 were injured in one of the worst fan-related tragedies in Indian cricket history. The stampede broke out at Gate No. 7 of the stadium, around two kilometres from the state assembly, after rumours spread that free tickets were being distributed for the felicitation event. From scattered shoes and slippers to broken gates and trampled jerseys, the videos and photos showed the chaos left on the street after the tragic incident. Piles of shoes scattered, parts of broken iron gates lying on road: Horrifying visuals from outside Chinnaswamy Stadium show the aftermath of Bengaluru stampede tragedy that claimed 11 lives #BengaluruStampede #ChinnaswamyStadiumstampede #ChinnaswamyTragedy #RCBvsPBKS #IPLFinal June 5, 2025 What Happened At Chinnaswamy Stadium? A massive crowd gathered to celebrate Royal Challengers Bengaluru's (RCB) first Indian Premier League (IPL) title turned tragic on Wednesday evening when a stampede near M Chinnaswamy Stadium left 11 dead and over 30 injured. Authorities said most of the victims were young men and women, including several students. Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah highlighted the scale of the crowd, saying the stadium's capacity is 35,000, but 200,000 to 300,000 people had gathered. 'The match was held yesterday (Tuesday), and today (Wednesday) this event was organised by the cricket association, so no one expected such a huge turnout," he said. RCB ended an 18-year wait for the IPL trophy after defeating Punjab Kings at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Bengaluru. Post their win, the team arrived in Bengaluru for a felicitation ceremony. Fans had arrived in large numbers to catch a glimpse of their champion team. First Published: June 05, 2025, 18:37 IST
NDTV
33 minutes ago
- NDTV
PV Sindhu Crashes Out Of Indonesia Open
Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu faltered in the deciding game to lose to world number 8 Pornpawee Chochuwong of Thailand in the women's singles second round of the Indonesia Open Super 1000 badminton tournament here on Thursday. Sindhu squandered a 15-11 lead in the decider to lose the match 22-20, 10-21, 18-21 in a 78-minute gruelling battle. "I think I should have converted it to win. I was leading 16-13 in the third set, but I think from there also it was a bit faster so I had to control a lot more. From there, she took the lead and I think I made it equal at 18 all. It was anybody's game at that point of time," Sindhu said. "But overall, I'm happy with my performance. It would have been really good if I would have converted it into a win today. But yeah, a lot to learn from this match and this tournament as well and prepare for the next one." Sindhu looked in control after overturning a 10-16 deficit to take the opening game. With 15-11 up in the decider, the momentum was firmly on her side but a series of errors proved costly. Chochuwong capitalised on it, turning the match around by winning five straight points, four of which coming from Sindhu's miscued smashes and drops under fast conditions. Listen to the latest songs, only on
