News about Cheteshwar Pujara

RICHARD GIBSON: The Metro Bank Cup, a sports competition involving players who are surplus to requirements at any stage of the Hundred, got off this week, with players able to represent their counties. It also features high-quality international players, Cheteshwar Pujara and Prithvi Shaw (Sussex and Northants respectively), Simon Harmer of South Africa, and Shan Masood of Pakistan and Yorkshire. Despite being branded a growth tournament by the ECB when the Hundred was launched in 2021, it has generated good crowds as counties continue to use out-grounds, attracting a larger audience.

LAWRENCE BOOTH: After being one step ahead of India in south London, Australia is expected to land in Birmingham for the Ashes this week. The Indians were ecstatic when they raced to 92 for one in the fourth innings, with a score set 444 for victory, more than any Test team have successfully chased in the fourth innings. But captain Rohit Sharma and Cheteshwar Pujara's silenced a fourth-day audience of over 25,000, leaving them begging for a miracle from Virat Kohli.

ATT THE OVAL: Steve Smith warned England's batsmen about the dangers of Bazball after Australia took over the World Test Championship final against India. With Scott Boland leading the first Ashes Test at Edgbaston next week, India closed the second day on a tense 151 for five in reaction to Australia's punishing 469. Smith, a former 121, suggested that England's ardent defense against Australia's high-class attack might have come unstuck in under similar testing conditions.

We're about to embark on what promises to be the most exciting series between England and Australia since 2005. Australia has a superb bowling attack and some of the best batters in the world; as a team, we are on the highest level. We have a fab deal. We may well conclude that we can't continue to do the way we have done for the past 12 months against them.

Exclusive BY LAWRENCE BOOTH: Marnus Labuschagne never stops. He is back in the Cardiff nets, helping bring Glamorgan to within a wicket of a major victory at Headingley with scores of 65 and 170 not out. There is no one else around, except for the club's media man, and there is faint drizzle in the air. This is the gruntwork no one talks about, the quiet before the Ashes hurricane. Fortunately for Australia, the world's top-ranked batsman is no prima donna. As if his result against Yorkshire provided any clue, he's just checking in on how the game's going.'

Despite all the rancor surrounding Aussie superstar Steve Smith's time as captain of county cricket, the leading England paceman believes it's a coup for his country. That puts him at odds with several of his colleagues and cricket pundits in the United Kingdom, who don't want the champion batter to acclimatize before the series.

Smith, on the first day of his brief stay as a Sussex overseas player, was at second slip as Robinson put on an impressive display of seam bowling to finish with seven for 59 off 17 probing overs in Worcestershire's 264 all out. Robinson, in his second appearance of the season, was a step ahead of every other bowler on view, and gave his new teammate Smith a glimpse of what to expect when they lock horns at Edgbaston on June 16. Smith went on to claim Worcestershire's ninth wicket, with Smith posing a threat to Robin Leach's ferocious contribution of a run a ball 53.

When it was suggested that the Poms be assisting him in his bid to capture the Ashes, Steve Smith, who was resplendent in his Sussex tracksuit, couldn't avoid smiling. "I'm not positive about that," the Australian star batsman who has appeared at Hove for three County Championship matches, ahead of the World Test final against India next month and then a series of them all. 'I'm just excited to play some cricket.' I've heard a lot of talk about getting used to the conditions here, but you have to remember that I've played a lot of cricket in England, so the circumstances aren't particularly new to me.'

With a sardonic 59, Cheteshwar Pujara dominated India, while Nathan Lyon was the pick of the Australian bowlers, scoring 8-64. In the four-test series for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, India is 2-0 ahead.

Following Pat Cummins' burning of all three reviews in a single session on a turvy day of Test cricket in Delhi, Allan Border and Michael Hussey led a chorus of protesters. The Aussie captain opted to call a decision upstairs in the hopes of removing KL Rahul from the test, but only after the DRS kept the on-field call intact. Cummins then decided against covering an LBW call against Cheteshwar Pujara, who seemed to have been trapped in front by Nathan Lyon, after burningt his first two reviews.

XclusIVE BY RICHARD GIBSON (pictured), a 33-year-old boy who is about to be declared, will play up to four first-class matches before the World Test Championship final at the Oval in early June. Australia has almost qualified for the match, which will be followed by the five-Test Ashes series from June 16. The time with Sussex would be a perfect acclimatization for the tourists' vice-captain and star batter. Despite being given a three-year contract by Surrey as an adult and the opportunity to play for England as a result of his British mother Gillian Smith's British mother, Smith has never played in the Championship. In 2010, he appeared in five Twenty20 matches for Worcestershire, his first stint as a first-team domestic cricketer.