5 unsung heroes of Indian cricket in 2016

#4 Cheteshwar Pujara

The linchpin of India’s Test line-up for quite a while now, Pujara suddenly found a big question mark over his head when he couldn’t find form with the bat early this year. Under Kohli’s captaincy, the Indian team has maintained an aggressive demeanour, forcing for a result and not looking for a draw.

In all this, Pujara’s drab batting was somewhere hurting the team, especially in the second innings when the team requires quick runs. There seems to have had been a steady decline in his career strike rates after 2014, distinctly in the early part of his innings.

Virat Kohli had opened up about Pujara’s slow approach, having talked to head coach Anil Kumble on the same and contemplated what could have been done. In the West Indies, he had scored 62 off 226 balls, and was dropped from the next Test.

A rejuvenated Pujara turned the tables in the first Test against the Kiwis at Kanpur, scoring 141 off 261 balls showed that there was much hullabaloo about nothing. In 2016, he has scored the second most runs for the Indian team in Tests, next only to Kohli, at an average of 55.73, and a strike rate of 48.43, more than the likes of Murali Vijay and Ajinkya Rahane.