England vs India 2018: 3 reasons why Cheteshwar Pujara should be picked in the 2nd Test

#1 Experience on English pitches

Pujara has had county stints for Yorkshire, Derbyshire, and Nottinghamshire

Pujara has had plenty of experience of playing on tricky pitches in English conditions. Having had two county stints with Yorkshire and one each with Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, Pujara is the only Indian batsman in the current squad who has played in England for such a long duration. This has been possible due to not being picked by any IPL team in recent seasons for his slow strike rate.

In the 2018 Yorkshire county season, Pujara failed miserably as he could manage only 169 runs in 12 innings at an average of 15. Hence, based on this poor form, Pujara was not picked in the starting XI in the first test match. On the other hand, many Indian batsmen were picked on IPL and ODI form in the test match. So, not selecting Pujara on such basis proved disastrous for India as the batsmen except Kohli who scored a hundred in the first innings were incapable of playing swing.

Hence, Pujara being in England has played in tough conditions during his county stint and so has the experience to play against the world-class English bowling attack