'Pujara played only one match fewer than Virat Kohli but his numbers are not flattering'

IND vs AUS: Cheteshwar Pujara's County experience could come in handy when India take on Australia in the World Test Championship 2023 Final at the Oval. The reliable top-order batsman made a comeback to the Indian Test squad and has been picked up in the WTC Final lineup. But former Indian opener Aakash Chopra has dissected Pujara's performance on English soil.

Pujara remains an important part of the Indian batting lineup which also boasts of the likes of Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. His stupendous performance for Sussex amplified his need for this English surface. The 35-year-old has accumulated 829 runs in 16 matches at an average of 29.60. He only has a solitary hundred to his name.

Aakash Chopra pointed out glaring Cheteshwar Pujara weakness

On the other hand, Virat Kohli recorded 1033 runs in 17 matches with two centuries to his name and Aakash pointed out this glaring backlog in Pujara's display. On his YouTube channel, he said, "Pujara has scored a lot of runs in county cricket. In fact, because of that only he made a comeback into the Indian team, but the truth is that he has probably played only one match fewer than Kohli but his numbers are not flattering at all."

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"His (Pujara's) average is less than 30. It is either 26 or 29. His and Rahane's averages are almost equal. One has 26 and the other has 29. They have played a lot of matches, have struck a century apiece as well but the average on England grounds over a period of time is below 30, which is not great."

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Even Virat hasn't had much comfort in England and Chopra believes the debacle in the 2014 series had an long lasting effect on Kohli's English saga. "If you are thinking how Kohli's performances have been, his average is also only 33. He has scored over 1000 runs, the only Indian to score a thousand runs in this current team setup but the average is 33 because the 2014 series was very bad and the last one was middling."

WTC final playing XIs

Australia XI: David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Alex Carey(w), Pat Cummins(c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland

India XI: Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Srikar Bharat(w), Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj