• Home
  • Cricket News
  • Watch Pujara Gears Up For Ranji Season After Indias Disastrous Test Loss To Sa

[Watch] Pujara Gears Up For Ranji Season After India's Disastrous Test Loss To SA

image-lqs6huc9Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane during their India days (X.com)

After Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara has now posted a video of him practicing in the nets on his social media handle. The series of videos have come after India’s dismal batting performances against South Africa in the first Test. 

Cheteshwar Pujara is gearing up for the upcoming Ranji season. 

In the light of the same, he uploaded a video where he could be seen practicing in the nets. He captioned the post as: 

                                                        “Ranji Trophy prep mode on” 


While the captions of both the videos suggest otherwise, these videos are a reminder of what India could be missing in their batting line-up in the tough South African conditions

Cheteshwar Pujara was part of India’s team in the World Test Championship final against Australia this year. However, his scores in the big game were disappointing, to say the least. He was later dropped from the squad for the Test series against West Indies and it left him frustrated. 

“There have been ups and downs in the last few years. It tests you as a player because having played, say more than 90 Test matches, I still had to prove myself. I still had to prove that I belonged there. It’s a different type of challenge,” Pujara told the Final Word Podcast.


“Sometimes you do get frustrated, even if you have to prove yourself after 90 Tests and five-six thousand, whatever number of runs I had scored. It’s not easy. Sometimes it plays around with your ego. There are still doubts – are you good enough.”

Cheteshwar Pujara played a major role with the bat in helping India reach the final of the World Test Championship 2021. He was India’s second-highest run-getter in the last WTC cycle (2021-2023), scoring 928 runs in 17 Tests. 

However, his form dipped last year and with age not on his side, team management opted to give opportunities to younger players. In his absence, Shubman Gill took the number three position. 

In the recent Test match against South Africa, Gill struggled to adapt to the tough conditions, managing scores of 2 and 26 in the first and second innings, respectively. The other batters such as Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shreyas Iyer, and Rohit Sharma too failed to contribute. 

KL Rahul, though, hit a century in India’s first innings, while Virat Kohli played as a lone warrior in the second innings. The second and final Test match is scheduled to be played between 3rd and 7th January 2023 at Newlands in Cape Town.