Former India spinner Harbhajan Singh said that India does not have a better Test batter than Cheteshwar Pujara following India’s hammering in the Boxing Day Test. South Africa beat India by an innings and 32 runs at the SuperSport Park in Centurion to take a 1-0 lead in the two-match Test series.
SA vs IND, 1st Test Day 3 Scorecard
With this win, Dean Elgar and co. killed India’s hopes of conquering their final frontier in Test cricket, having never won a bi-lateral Test series in South Africa.
Speaking on his Youtube channel, Harbhajan hit out at the omissions of Ajinkya Rahane and Pujara from India’s Test squad for the South Africa your, saying India doesn’t have a better Test batter than Pujara. The World Test Championship final against Australia was the last Test match that Pujara played for India.
“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 Kohli had. I don’t understand why Pujara has been left out, we still don’t have a better batter than Puajra in Test cricket. He plays slowly but he saves you, because of him India won Test in Australia and England,” said Harbhajan.
He went on to say that India never looked in the game through the course of the three days, adding that the match was decided on India’s performance in the first innings itself. India were bowled out for 245 runs and 131 runs by South Africa in Centurion.
“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,” Harbhajan added.
Following their defeat at Centurion, India will gear up to take on South Africa at the Wanderers Stadium in Cape Town on January 3.
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