India are facing Australia for an epic series of Border Gavaskar Trophy 2023. Australian captain Pat Cummins have won the toss and opted to bat first in the significant starter game of this epic series.
Indian captain Rohit Sharma stated that he too hoped to bat first as the pitch looks good to bat.
“We would have batted too. Looks pretty dry. There will be help for spinners. We got to wait and see how much it does. Yesterday when we started training we did see some seam movement for the pacers up front. We have had a good prep for the last 5-6 days. We trained on the aspects in store. This is a big one. We know the importance of the series but we also understand it’s about winning one session at a time. It’s a long series. Three spinners, two seamers, Bharat and Suryakumar Yadav are debuting.”
India will play with their regular top order which includes KL Rahul, skipper Rohit, Cheteshwar Pujara and dominating batsman Virat Kohli. Talking about the middle order, two players – Surya Kumar Yadav & KS Bharat have debuted today after Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant’s injury scare.
Cheteshwar Pujara, a crucial component of India’s middle order, has participated in 98 Test matches to date and is on track to earn 100 Test caps during the upcoming series. As the second contest in the series will take place at Delhi’s Arun Jaitley Stadium, Pujara might accomplish the feat there. In an interview with PTI, former India captain and eminent cricketer Sachin Tendulkar discussed about Pujara.
“I feel Pujara’s achievements aren’t recognised enough and his importance in the team isn’t recognised enough, generally,” said Tendulkar.
“He has played magnificently for the country and his contribution has been immense in whatever success Indian cricket team has had,” added Tendulkar.
Pujara has scored 7014 runs in Tests for Team India in 98 games, averaging 44.39 runs per game. He has played in only five ODIs but is best known for his performances in the longest format, scoring 51 runs at an average of 10.2 runs per game.
Along with Pujara, Kohli aims to reach 25,000 runs in international cricket. The right-handed batter needs 64 more runs to reach the significant milestone, which he might do during the series. He may also reach 4000 runs in the series and become the fifth Indian batter to do so with 3,847 runs in 46 home games.
