India middle-order veteran Cheteshwar Pujara has began preparations for the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test sequence in opposition to Australia, which shall be ranging from February 9 onwards. The batter took to Twitter and shared some footage from a apply session. “Getting ready for India vs Australia,” tweeted Pujara. It shall be vital for Team India that this batter shows his grit, dedication and steely strategy to batting to the fullest in opposition to a world-class Australian bowling assault. He was in tremendous kind final 12 months. In 5 Tests and 10 innings in 2022, Pujara scored 409 runs at a median of 45.44. He scored one century and three half-centuries final 12 months.

Getting prepared for vs pic.twitter.com/g8c1RRqUbO

— Cheteshwar Pujara (@cheteshwar1) January 31, 2023

His century got here after 1,400-plus days again in December final 12 months. Before this, he had hit a century in January 2019. Two years of inconsistent kind adopted the batter as he may common solely 20.37 (2020) and 28.08 (2021) and scored a complete of 865 runs in 18 Tests and 34 innings with seven fifties.

But a stint with Sussex county in England rotated issues for him. In his eight matches for Sussex throughout the County Championship, he scored 1,094 runs at a median of 109.40. He scored 5 hundred-plus scores within the championship in 13 innings, with the most effective rating of 231. He was the fourth-highest run-scorer within the championship.

Pujara is the sixth-highest run-scorer in historical past of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. In 20 matches and 37 innings, he has scored 1,893 runs at a median of 54.08 with 5 centuries and 10 half-centuries and the most effective rating of 204.

The batter’s peak efficiency in BGT got here again in 2018-19 in Australia, the place he topped the batting charts and gained the ‘Man of the Series’ award. In 4 matches and 7 innings, he scored 521 runs at a median of 74.42, with three centuries and a fifty. His greatest particular person rating was 193.

In the 2020-21 version of the sequence, which noticed India making historical past and profitable the sequence 2-1 after battling the absence of star batter Virat Kohli, poor efficiency within the first Test which noticed them get all out for simply 36, racism and accidents to key gamers, Pujara was considered one of India’s brightest stars. In 4 matches and eight innings, he scored 271 runs at a median of 33.87, with three fifties and a better of 77. His greatest efficiency was a knock of 56 throughout the closing Test at The Gabba in Brisbane, which noticed him overcome a number of physique blows to steer his group to a win, which was Aussie’s first Test loss on the venue since 1988.

The sequence is an enormous one for each groups as they appear to nail down a spot within the World Test Championship (WTC) closing. The sequence begins in Nagpur on February 9 with Tests in Delhi, Dharamsala and Ahmedabad.

Australia is on the prime of WTC standings with a win share of 75.56 and have gained 10 Tests, misplaced one and drawn 4. India is on the second spot with a win share of 58.93 and have gained 5 Tests, misplaced 4 and drawn one.

India’s Test squad for the primary two Tests in opposition to Australia: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KS Bharat (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), R. Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammad Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat and Suryakumar Yadav.

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