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Cricket Players'Had a sword hanging over his neck. People said drop him, rest are playing well': Harbhajan on 'phenomenal' India batter
Former India spinner Harbhajan Singh has spoke highly about as experienced India batter and feels he is very crucial for the team, especially while playing overseas.
With Rohit Sharma all set to miss the Birmingham between India and England, all eyes would be on how the rest of the batters to do bulk of the scoring for the touring team. Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara, Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer will all have huge roles to perform in the series decider starting Friday at the Edgbaston Cricket Ground. The current Indian team is one that is filled with promise but at the same time wears a slightly different look than the unit that was in England last year.
Ajinkya Rahane has been dropped, while KL Rahul and Rohit are not available. Which is why the performances of the middle order, featuring Kohli, Pujara, Iyer and Hanuma Vihari promise to have a huge bearing on the direction this Test match takes. Ahead of the series-decider, former India spinner Harbhajan Singh has lavished special praise on Pujara, who is coming into the Test with runs behind his back in County cricket.
"It is important to keep playing cricket which Pujara does. Although in county, bowlers are not as threatening as in international cricket, even there you find a few such bowlers. Good to see Pujara choosing this option of playing and showing good form there. And see, he has always contributed. When we went to Australia, he played a huge role but people spoke very less about him," Harbhajan told SportsKeeda.
Pujara was dropped from the Test squad after the tour of South Africa in January, which Harbhajan reckons was an unfair call. But after scoring a hat-trick for centuries for Sussex, got his place back for the Edgbaston game. Underlining Pujara's importance, Harbhajan said that a batter of his caliber is extremely crucial for India, even more so in overseas conditions.
"Each time you need someone to see off the new ball, score runs and hold one end up, there is no one better than Pujara. The sword wrongly hung around his neck. People said drop him, the rest are playing well, which I feel was wrong. Pujara has been phenomenal for Team India when it comes to touring abroad. Because he does not lose wickets, and make things easier for the rest. He softens up the old ball and that is the reason India have won so many matches abroad," he added.
