Cheteshwar Pujara picks his current World Test XI

Cheteshwar Pujara, the Indian batting stalwart, picked his World Test XI, built with some of the best players in the business. As an opener, he went for David Warner, who, last year, churned out an unbeaten triple-century against Pakistan at the Adelaide Oval. Along with Warner, Pujara, surprisingly, picked New Zealand’s Kane Williamson, who’s predominantly a middle-order batter.

The Black Caps’ skipper is yet to open the batting in Test cricket. On picking him, Pujara said that he didn’t want to miss out an any world-class batter. At number three, the Saurashtra cricketer went for himself. Pujara has been thought about as a successor of Rahul Dravid due to his grit, temperament and patience. He was the top run-scorer when India won the Test series in Australia in 2018-19.

Pujara picks a power-packed unit

The middle-order batsman made his choices during a live chat with Harsha Bhogle on Cricbuzz. Virat Kohli and Steve Smith were Pujara’s picks at number four and five respectively. Both Kohli and Smith have engaged in a tussle regarding the ICC’s top batsman in Test cricket. Smith is currently ruling the roost after he made his comeback to the format following the ball-tampering scandal in Cape Town.

Ben Stokes is the only specialist all-rounder in Pujara’s lineup. Stokes is currently the number one all-rounder in Tests after he toppled Jason Holder during the three Test series against the West Indies in July. Pujara zeroed in on BJ Watling as the keeper.

Watling isn’t the most popular cricketers going around, but he has played some match-saving knocks for the Kiwis in trying conditions. Pujara picked Ravi Ashwin as the lone spinner. Ashwin also has tasted success with the bat and is handy lower down the order.

Pat Cummins, Kagiso Rabada and Jasprit Bumrah form the deadly pace-bowling troika. Last year, Bumrah became the third Indian bowler after Irfan Pathan and Harbhajan Singh to pick up a Test hat-trick and he got the feat in the Jamaica Test against the Caribbeans.

Pujara picked Ravindra Jadeja as the 12th man for home conditions. For SENA countries, he went for Mohammed Shami.

Here’s Cheteshwar Pujara’s eleven: –

David Warner, Kane Williamson, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Steve Smith, Ben Stokes, BJ Watling, Ravi Ashwin, Pat Cummins, Kagiso Rabada, Jasprit Bumrah