Pujara's Absence a Big Miss for India in Upcoming Australia Tour, Says Vihari

Hanuma Vihari, a key member of India's back-to-back Test series victories in Australia, believes the absence of veteran batter Cheteshwar Pujara will be a significant loss when the team aims for a hat-trick Down Under later this year. The five-match series begins in Perth on November 22.

Pujara, who was out of favor, was the leading run-getter in the 2018-19 series with 521 runs off 1258 balls and was once again the backbone of Indian batting three years later when he accumulated 271 runs off 928 balls. Across both teams, the 103-Test veteran faced the most number of balls to wear out the opposition attack comprising Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, and Mitchell Starc.

As another Border-Gavaskar Trophy is on the horizon, Vihari wonders who can play Pujara's role this time around. "Pujara will be a big miss. He was the backbone of the batting line-up in the last two series for Team India. He took blows, he batted time, he stayed there for a long time, he saw the new ball, he got runs. He made the job easier for the other batters coming in," Vihari told PTI.

"So that kind of role... who will play is a question mark for me. Currently, I would say we have an attacking mode of a batting line-up (the top six). All like to play their shots. Virat is the only one I feel in that batting line-up who can be like a glue to the other batters. He can stay on and bat the most number of overs and you know batting in Australia is all about time. If you see off the new ball, it gets a little easier with the older Kookaburra ball," added Vihari, who played the last of his 16 Tests in July 2022.

In the absence of Pujara, he also sees a significant role for K L Rahul at number six. He feels Rishabh Pant is best suited at number five. Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, and Virat Kohli form the top four.

"That's where KL Rahul's role also will be important because he is someone who's got the experience in playing in SENA countries and he can bat long. He has done well in SENA countries. I feel they are looking at KL Rahul at number 6 as well. By playing Rahul ahead of Sarfaraz in the current series (against Bangladesh), they are looking at a bigger picture. They want experience in number 6 when we tour Australia. Because in Australia playing at 6 you need to have good technique whether it's facing the second new ball or batting after an early collapse," he said.

Vihari also thinks playing Australia in their own backyard will be the biggest test thus far for Jaiswal, who has done well at home but is yet to prove himself in overseas conditions. "It's his biggest test. But he's a very confident guy. Overall facing Australia in Australia, the mental preparation is key. This time we are playing five Test matches in Australia compared to four earlier. So it's even more mentally draining Down Under because everything is against you. The media is against you, the people are against you, and you are away from home facing Australian attack in Australia," added Vihari, who stitched a match-saving stand with R Ashwin in the Sydney Test on the previous tour.

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