Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar on Wednesday praised batsman Cheteshwar Pujara for his role in India’s historic Test series win in Australia.
Tendulkar was also impressed with brand of cricket produced by Virat Kohli and his men during the four-Test series, calling it “magnificent”.
India registered their first Test series triumph in Australia since their first visit way back in 1947-’48. Kohli and his team won Test matches in Adelaide and Melbourne, while losing in Perth, before the rain-marred final Test in Sydney was drawn.
Calling India’s performance “fantastic”, Tendulkar said, “I find it difficult to pinpoint one moment [that defined India’s series win], but I think Pujara has been really outstanding.”
Pujara scored 521 runs in the series with three centuries and one half century, and 193 being his highest score.
“The number of statements made on Pujara, which ideally weren’t in his favour, kind of undermined his contribution,” Tendulkar told reporters at an event in Mumbai organised by IDBI Federal Life Insurance.
“Along with [Pujara], [we] cannot ignore the bowlers’ contribution. The bowlers have done exceedingly well.
“But somewhere, Pujara has been instrumental in laying that solid foundation on which there were a number of guys who went out and got runs.
“Virat scored runs in the second Test. Ajinkya [Rahane] had that crucial partnership. Then Rishabh [Pant], [Ravindra] Jadeja – all these guys have done well. Mayank [Agarwal] got off to a good start.
“But if I have to pin-point one guy then Pujara stands out along with the fast bowlers.”
Tendulkar also hoped that India’s Test series victory in Australia would inspire the younger generation.
“I think results like these are really important,” he said. “I still remember when I was 10 years old, I didn’t know much about cricket. But I knew that India had won the World Cup [in 1983] and that’s where my journey started.
“Hopefully, there are many journeys which have started already. You need these kinds of results to inspire them and make them believe that you can go out and deliver your best and get laurels to our nation. That is exactly what the team has done Down Under,” he added.
With inputs from PTI
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