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Xtra Time Web Desk: For the first time in his career in recent times Team India’s batting mainstay in tests Cheteshwar Pujara is fighting to keep his place in the playing XI for the first test against England which starts in Nottingham from August 4. The sudden dip in form and struggling to keep the score moving has been the biggest drawback against the Sourashtra batsman in recent times. The obvious question now – will the team management give Pujara another opportunity or will field Hanuma Vihari or even KL Rahul at No 3.

Pujara’s last half-century in the longer format came 8 innings ago in Chennai when he slammed 73 against England. Since then, he has scored 15, 21, 7, 0, 17, 8 and 15. In the warm-up match against County XI, he scored 21 & 38 respectively. He scored his last test century 18 Test matches before.

His average since the Australia tour in 2018-19 has been 28.03 with no centuries, not to mention about his awful strike rate which has been an area of concern for the team management.  Pujara’s strike rate in tests has gone down to 35.69.

In the recently concluded World Test Championship Final, he managed just 8 & 15 despite playing 54 and 80 balls respectively.

The two options India currently have are Hanuma Vihari and KL Rahul. Vihari’s records in England doesn’t offer much confidence either as he has failed to put up big scores despite spending more time in England than the rest of the players.

Furthermore, he isn’t seen as a top-order batsman. KL Rahul, on the other hand, is seen as a middle-order batsman on this tour to England. The batsman from Karnataka is in fine form in the IPL and carried that in the warm-up match against Select County XI, slamming a century. This will definitely influence the team management perhaps to try Rahul ahead of Pujara on the basis of current form.

However, what go against Rahul is his stats at No 3 in Test. In five innings at No 3, he has averaged only 17.60 with just a 50 to his name. But at this point, India does not have an option other than backing KL Rahul or Hanuma Vihari.