Pujara - Kohli: The next Dravid - Tendulkar perhaps?

Great partnerships in cricket are rare and to sustain them for long requires a lot of consistency and patience, similar to your successful marriages. In the space of 3-4 years, we’ve had great cricketers from the golden generation of Indian cricket retire, but none have hit Indians hard as the retirement of Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar, or rather their combination, so to speak.

Pujara and Kohli have at their disposal a task which you’d not be envious of : Step into the shoes of the Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar. While Pujara was already in that role of No. 3 left vacant by Dravid since August 2012, Kohli got the coveted No. 4 in the first test against South Africa. In their first Test match as the ‘replacement pair’ they made a crucial 89 run stand in the first innings to be followed by the superb 222 in the second innings to give them a 320 run lead on the third day at the Wanderers. It’s a shame that we didn’t win the Test match, although it gives us mouth-watering prospects for the future.

"Pujara is just like Dravid as he shows the same hunger for runs, same application and same dedication towards the team’s cause. Kohli is also batting beautifully at number four position. Rahul and Sachin were absolutely phenomenal not just for few years but decades and that is what these two youngsters should strive to do. They should be like Dravid and Tendulkar and put India ahead of everything," batting legend Sunil Gavaskar said in an interview with NDTV.

Dravid and Tendulkar hold the record for most number of century partnerships in Tests. The duo together scored 6920 with 20 century stands at 50.51. Pujara and Kohli complement each other superbly on the field, with Puajra keeping the scoreboard ticking and rotating the strike with his superb defensive prowess, similar to Rahul Dravid. In contrast, Virat Kohli is the one who is more attacking of the two, which draws comparisons to Sachin. To give you a perspective of how effective their partnership has been, they’ve averaged an impressive 93.87 in 10 innings with 3 century stands and 3 half-century stands to their credit. These are just early days for the pair, but they’ve shown amazing co-ordination.

However, we should not make the mistake of christening Pujara as a Test player just because he takes his time in the middle. We know he can attack and take on the bowling, however, it’s just frightening that we might end up doing the same to him as we did to the man he replaced- Rahul Dravid.

The Pujara – Kohli combine has shown a lot of promise in recent times but they need to prove their mettle against quality opposition away from home and not on the flat tracks back at home. The glimpse against the Proteas is a step in the right direction though.