Pujara's county stint with Sussex helps India in Birmingham

By Vivek Prabhakar Singh
Birmingham [UK], July 5 : Cheteshwar Pujara opened for India against England in the absence of Rohit Sharma in the fifth and final rescheduled Test match being played here at the Edgbaston Stadium in Birmingham.
The Saurashtra lad failed to impress in the first innings scoring only 13 but in the second innings top scored for India scoring 66 hitting eight boundaries and was also involved in a 78-run partnership stand with Rishabh Pant.
His knock helped India set England a target of 378. All this was due to his successful county stint with Sussex.
The 34-year old was dropped from the Indian Test squad earlier this year due to an inconsistent run of form. But he made a strong statement with his form in the County Championship Division Two.
Ever since being signed as an overseas batter replacing the Australian batter Travis Head by Sussex, Pujara was extremely impressive for his side. In his three outings for the county, he scored 6 and 201* against Derbyshire, 109 and 12 against Worcestershire and 203 against Durham while in the game against Middlesex, he scored an unbeaten 170.
The matches he played for Sussex against different County sides helped him to prepare better for this crucial Test match as he had the opportunity to acclimatize with the English conditions.