Australian captain Pat Cummins recalled his battles with veteran Indian Test batter Cheteshwar Pujara in the 2018-19 and 2020-21 Border-Gavaskar Trophies, applauding his hunger to bat time. However, Team India have won the previous four bilateral Test series against Australia, including the 2018- 19 and 2020-21.

Cummins said on the Star Sports Press Room: “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. 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.”

“He might score runs, but you always feel like you’re in for a chance. It comes down to almost who wants to outlast each other, which I quite like that aspect of Test cricket. It’s going to be a shame that he is not there, but I’m sure they’ll pick someone else who’s in a similar kind of style,” he added.

However, Pat Cummins also feels the India-Australia rivalry is all but equal to the Ashes due to Team India’s recent dominance in Tests, especially down under as well.

“I do think it is. Particularly, after the Indian team won the last couple of series at (our) home. We’ve had more success against England over the past decade. I think it’s right up there. You know when you play against India, you’ve got a few Indian fans that are watching. It’s a slightly different rivalry to England-Australia rivalry. But again, now having a five-Test match series, it does mirror the Ashes series very closely. Winning (in) Test cricket away from home is as tough as it gets in our sport and India have done that around the world. They are really, really good at home but also, one of the better teams to travel as well — that’s their reputation,” Pat Cummins concluded.