WHY PUJARA SHOULD BE GIVEN AN EXTENDED RUN

The effective duo of Sehwag and Gambhir answered India’s opening woes for a long period of time. Now, with both of them out of contention after much testing and trying, Dhawan and Rohit Sharma have assumed their roles with aplomb. Dhawan’s been in the form of his life and Rohit Sharma has accepted his new role with both hands. But in the event of any one of them failing, and given that both Vijay and Rahane have not performed as well as they should have, The Indian Selectors will again be faced with the arduous task of finding an opener and that too when the World Cup is 18 months away.
                         
              Pujara can be the answer. Why Pujara, why not the Rahane or some other talented batting one would ask. The basis of the answer would be his technique. He’s got a near flawless technique which is easy on the eye. On the hard, bouncy pitches in Australia, only those players will succeed who are technically sound. Also, no one can question the temperament of this player. He showed what he’s made of when he made a classy hundred in Mumbai on a treacherously spinning wicket.
                                   
                                               

                The other question that people may raise is about his scoring rate. In the IPL, he has scored with a strike rate of about 105. This is pretty good if you are looking for solidity from one end. Last year, in the Challenger Trophy he was the highest scorer with two tons and a fifty. He notched up a high score of 158* during the tournament. In addition, he was the leading scorer in the U-19 World Cup in 2006. All these figures and facts suggest that he has been scoring at a good in limited overs cricket too.
                     
           
                  Having said all the above, it is all up to the team management to decide on Pujara’s ODI fortunes. I hope they have the foresight and planning to manage a player such as him. My point is that he should be given a run for at least 5 ODIs to prove his worth.