Former India batter Cheteshwar Pujara has picked Murali Vijay, Wriddhiman Saha, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar as three of the most underrated players he has played in the Indian team. He also said that in the case of Saha and Bhuvneshwar, the presence of MS Dhoni and injuries, respectively, restricted them from having longer careers as well.

He told Sports Today: “If I have to pick a few, I would go with Murali Vijay, Wriddhiman Saha and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. All three were exceptional players. Unfortunately, Bhuvi was injured and he couldn’t carry on playing Test cricket for a long time but he was an exceptional bowler. Wriddhiman Saha has been an exceptional wicketkeeper and a batter. But he was born in an era when Mahi bhai (MS Dhoni) was captain and then after that he didn’t get a lot of matches to play for the Indian team and Rishabh Pant also came in so he missed out.”

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“Murali Vijay, again an exceptional opener, I think one of the best openers I have played my cricket with because if you are a number three player you want the best opener out there. I have had a lot of great partnerships with Vijay and he is also one of the best Test openers I have seen,” he again shared.

Cheteshwar Pujara also picked Rahul Dravid as the batter to bat for his life. He also shared that among the overseas batters, he admired the way Brian Lara dominated in the Tests as well.

“I would go with Rahul bhai, Rahul Dravid.I would go with Brian Lara because when I was young, I grew up watching Sachin paaji. Brian Lara scored so many runs. I admired his batting a lot, the way he used to dominate in Test cricket,” Cheteshwar Pujara concluded.