'Shubman Gill, Joe Root don't want to do it' - Former England captain's huge claim on star batters after Cheteshwar Pujara's retirement
"A real old-school No. 3. And he had to take over from one of the all-time great No. 3s in Rahul Dravid," Nasser Hussain said about Cheteshwar Pujara.
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Cheteshwar Pujara announced his retirement from all forms of cricket on Sunday, August 24. He finished as one of India's best red-ball batters of all time. During his illustrious career, Pujara cemented his spot at No. 3 in India's Test setup. The Saurashtra batter amassed 6529 runs at No. 3 after batting in 155 innings at an average of 44.41.
Former England captain Nasser Hussain praised Pujara for making his presence felt as a No. 3 batter, especially after replacing a legend like Rahul Dravid. Hussain also mentioned how active batting stalwarts like Shubman Gill and Joe Root don't want to bat at No. 3 in Test cricket.
"A real old-school No. 3. And he had to take over from one of the all-time great No. 3s in Rahul Dravid. It's something that's a little bit lacking in international cricket - No. 3s. Even in the England side, Joe Root doesn't want to do it. Shubman Gill doesn't want to do it for India since he has got the captaincy. He wants to bat at 4," Hussain told on the Sky Sports YouTube channel.
"In our era, your No. 3 was your best player, whether it be Viv Richards, Ricky Ponting or Rahul Dravid. Not an easy position to do but Pujara did it as well as anyone," he added.
He protected the middle order: Hussain
The cricketer-turned-commentator also said that Pujara helped the middle-order batters immensely by playing out the new ball. Hussain also mentioned Pujara's phenomenal batting performances in Australia, orchestrating Test series wins for India in 2018-19 and 2020-21.
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"Another one of the old school batters is gone. A bat for your life and over my dead body sort of batter that played the ball late and produced some great innings, especially in Australia. He was loved by Indian fans for playing like that. And he protected the middle order, with the likes of Kohli in there, from the new ball. Working with him, he's exactly like how he was when he batted. Very calm, quietly spoken and talks a lot of sense," said Hussain.
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