‘Really enjoyed my contest against him’ – Pat Cummins heaps praises on discarded Indian star ahead of Border Gavaskar series 2024

Australian skipper Pat Cummins during his chat with Star Sports revealed his favorite battles against India. One name the 31-year-old mentioned was none other than discarded Indian batter Cheteshwar Pujara. The 36-year-old has an impeccable record against Australia and was instrumental in India winning the last two away series. 

Pat Cummins said “It was always great playing (against) Pujara. He was one of those guys who never really felt like he was getting away from you. But then he would (just) bat, bat, bat and bat."

The Aussie skipper also said “I really enjoyed the contest against him. Some days he won, other days I won. It's going to have a bit of a different feel without him. Pujara is a great player. I had lots of battles against him over the years. I quite enjoyed them, to be honest. It was real Test cricket” 

Pat Cummins looking ahead to India’s challenge 

Australia are hungry for success against India because they haven’t won the Border Gavaskar series for a decade. The last series was in India which the home team won under Rohit Sharma with 2-1 margin. Australia exacted revenge as they beat India in the World Test Championship and ODI World Cup finals last year. 

Pat Cummins looking ahead to the series said to Star Sports “The last two series were a long time ago. I haven’t played alongside Rohit Sharma so I don’t know him super well. But it looks like Indian team are pretty organized, pretty well played”

The 31-year-old ended by saying “Fortunately, over the last few years we’ve had some success in the World Test Championships finals and in a different format in the ODI World Cup. We’ll be trying to lean on those memories. As I’m sure they are trying to remember some of the previous series over here as well”     

Cheteshwar Pujara has played 25 Test matches against Australia and scored 2074 runs with an average of 49.38. His best of 204 came during the 2013 series in Hyderabad and the right-handed batter also scored 521 runs during the 2018/19 series down under. Pujara has hit 5 centuries and 11 fifties against Australia with his last game coming in the WTC Final.