'He Plays Slowly But he Saves You': Harbhajan Singh Questions Cheteshwar Pujara's Absence From South Africa Tests

Veteran spinner Harbhajan Singh was not impressed with India’s team selection after their embarrassing defeat against South Africa in the first Test. The Indian batting unit failed to put up any challenge against a high-quality Proteas pace attack which dismantled the visitors’ line-up in both innings.

KL Rahul’s ton helped India post a respectable 245 in the first innings but things got worse when they came out to bat the second time. Only two Indian batters Virat Kohli (76) and Shubman Gill (26) were able to breach the double-digit mark as they were bundled out for just 131 inside 35 overs as India lost the match within just three days.

Harbhajan was unimpressed with India not picking senior batters Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane for the big tour. The duo has good experience of playing in the Proteas conditions.

The Turbanator asserted that Cheteshwar Pujara is still one of the best Test batters in India and his exclusion is questionable.

“Didn’t select Ajinkya Rahane and have left Cheteshwar Pujara out for no reason. These are the two players who have scored runs everywhere. If you look at the previous record Pujara has the same contribution as Kohli had. I don’t understand why Pujara has been left out, we still don’t have a better batter than Puajra in Test cricket. He plays slowly but he saves you, because of him India won Test in Australia and England,” said Harbhajan on his YouTube channel.

Pujara last played for India in last year’s World Test Championship Final, while Rahane was dropped after the West Indies tour.

Harbhajan suggested that Team India was nowhere in the game throughout three days and said the fate was decided after their first innings performance.

“In three days India for a single moment never looked in the game. They scored 245 runs after losing the toss in the first innings and it was all thanks to KL Rahul. He played a fantastic knock which propelled India’s score to 245. In the second innings, India could only score 131 and if you remove Virat Kohli’s contribution then it would have been more difficult. The match was decided on India’s performance in the first innings,” Harbhajan added.