Hyderabad: Former India spinner Harbhajan Singh has remarked that Cheteshwar Pujara is the best cricketer in the world right now and he should have been included in the Indian team for the series against South Africa.
Indian batters struggled in the Centurion Test against South Africa and the team suffered a humiliating defeat by an innings and 32 runs in the opening game of the series. KL Rahul scored century for the Indian team in the match but none of the other batters provided a significant contribution.
The South African pacers led by debutant Nandre Burger troubled the opposition batters with an impressive seam movement throughout the game. Many fans wrote on social media that the experienced duo of Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara should have been backed for the series. Harbhajan Singh has also echoed the same sentiment on his YouTube channel
"Didn't select Ajinkya Rahane and have left Cheteshwar Pujara out for no reason. These are the two players who have scored runs everywhere. If you look at the previous record Pujara has the same contribution as (Virat) Kohli had. I don't understand why Pujara has been left out, we still don't have a better batter than Pujara in Test cricket. He plays slowly but he saves you, because of him India won Tests in Australia and England," Harbhajan, who was a staggering 417 Test wickets, stated on his YouTube channel.
India managed to score 245 runs in the first innings after losing the toss thanks to a hundred from KL Rahul. The Indian batter played a fighting knock while the South African pacers wreaked havoc with their quality spell. Harbhajan mentioned that India lost the plot as soon as they were bundled out on 245 after losing the toss.
"In three days India for a single moment never looked in the game. They scored 245 runs after losing the toss in the first innings and it was all thanks to KL Rahul. He played a fantastic knock which propelled India's score to 245. In the second innings, India could only score 131 and if you remove Virat Kohli's contribution then it would have been more difficult. The match was decided on India's performance in the first innings," he concluded.
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