Rajkot, the location for the third Test between India and England, sits on the T-shirt sleeve peninsula of India’s west coast. Lesser used on the cricket circuit than its vast Gujarat cousin, the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, it has hosted only two Tests, which between them totted up nine centuries. The pitches there aren’t known as “paata” for nothing.
All which is very much to the taste of Rajkot (and Hove’s) favourite son Cheteshwar Pujara, the formidable run-machine hewn from the same granite as India’s coach, Rahul Dravid. Pujara, 36, passed 20,000 first-class runs during a Ranji trophy game in January, joining Sachin Tendulkar, Dravid and Sunil Gavaskar in the Indian pantheon, and made a first-class century on Friday. But, despite the murmurings of the former head coach Anil Kumble, there seems to be no realistic chance of a recall. India, like England, have plumped for the tombola ticket of youth.
