Pitting Pujara against Dravid
Cheteshwar Pujara, a member of the new look Indian Test Team captained by Virat Kohli, is one of the few modern players to have a recognized 'classical' approach to the game. Given his playing style and batting position, he has often been compared with Rahul Dravid. In this article, we do an unbiased statistical comparison between these two players.
Burden of Dravid's name on Pujara's shoulders
Rahul Dravid, one of the legends of the game, and of India too, has played as many as 164 test matches for India. Pujara, a relative newcomer has not even played a third of as many. Hence, to make a fair comparison, we will concentrate on the detailed average stats instead of the total volume.
Home stats
Rahul Dravid, putting on the navy blue cap of India, has played in 70 home tests, racking up a healthy batting average of 51.35 and a strike rate of 42.38. Pujara, having played 30 home tests, at an average of 63.56 runs and a strike rate of 49.66. In home conditions, Pujara clearly has performed better till now.
Away Stats
Rahul Dravid, an exceptional performer in overseas conditions has played 94 overseas tests, with an exceptional batting average of 53.03 and a strike rate of 42.60. Cheteshwar Pujara, a mainstay of the batting order, has played 20 away matches at a good average of 39.45 and a strike rate of 44.46. Pujara is nowhere close to Dravid's consistency in overseas conditions.
Further stats
Dravid has scored 36 test tons with 63 50s. His record against the big 3 is exceptional as well. Pujara has scored 13 test tons with 15 half-centuries. Even though Pujara's best average has been against Bangladesh, but his standout performances have come against the big three (Aus, Eng, SA). His career-best knock of 206* was also against England.
Playing Style
They are both marked by a tendency to leave balls outside the off stump, evidenced by their excellent performance in overseas swinging conditions. Pujara has an added advantage of being comfortable playing good spin. However, Pujara's game lacks technical soundness in quite a few places, like bat lift and timing. Dravid, on the other hand, had matured and had an impenetrable repertoire of shots.
Conclusion
Stats are the not the sole judge of a player's career. It is the mental attitude to stick at the crease where these two players are concurrent. Pujara has shown flashes of such brilliance, but to do so on a consistent basis is another matter. Pujara may be called 'the next' Dravid instead of the 'the new' one.
