5 epic clashes to look forward to in the upcoming England-India test series

#3 Chesteshwar Pujara vs Stuart Broad:

Broad will be looking to exploit Pujara's Weakness

Stuart Broad has been one of England’s most reliable bowlers in the recent years. His new ball partnership with James Anderson is what drives England’s attack in test matches. He uses his height to good effect to generate good bounce on hard pitches and has the ability to blow the opposition apart with his blistering pace.

However, the ability to pitch the bowl up and get it to swing is what fetches him loads of wickets, particularly in bowler friendly English conditions. Broad played a crucial role in England’s 3-1 win against India in 2014, in which he picked up 19 wickets, including a fiery spell of 6/25 in the 4th test at Manchester which earned him the Man of the Match award.

Chesteshwar Pujara is one of the most dependable batsmen in the longer version of the game for India. His patience, determination and ability to stay at the crease for long periods of time makes him an invaluable asset to the team. Pujara has scored 4531 runs at an incredible average of 50.34 in 58 tests.

His record has not been particularly good in countries like England, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Although adept on the back foot, Pujara has often been found wanting on the front foot against incoming deliveries bowled at the stumps.

This weakness has been exploited by the England bowlers in the 2014 tour of England in which he was caught on the front foot playing a forward defence on more than one occasion. Pujara’s struggles against the incoming delivery will make him vulnerable against Stuart Broad, who can be really dangerous if he gets it to swing early on in the Indian innings. Pujara has been Broad's prey on a number of occasions in the past two series.