Which Indian batsman reminds Sunil Gavaskar of Hashim Amla

Johannesburg: Indian batting legend Sunil Gavaskar heaped rich praise on veteran Cheteshwar Pujara, saying India’s Test specialist reminds him of former South Africa great Hashim Amla. Gavaskar further said that a player with Pujara’s temperament is ‘terrific’ for the Indian dressing room.

After a string of poor performances, Pujara came good with the bat, scoring a half-century in India’s second innings of the second Test. Pujara scored 53 off 86 deliveries.  Ajinkya Rahane and Pujara made a 111-run partnership on a dodgy pitch, which helped India set a 240-run target for South Africa, which the hosts achieved losing only 3 wickets as captain Dean Elgar slammed a crucial 96* and earned a 7-wicket win for his team, drawing level in the series 1-1 on Thursday.

“When I look at him, he reminds me of Hashim. Watching Hashim bat, you know there’s a sense of calm that everything is under control,” Sunil Gavaskar said in a conversation with SuperSport.

“The ball could be doing things but there was that sense because even on pitches where the ball was turning, the way Hashim was batting in India, it was almost as if, ‘look, nothing’s happening’, and that’s the same thing with Cheteshwar Pujara,” Gavaskar added.

“It is a great, great blessing to have players of this temperament in your dressing room. (It may not be) necessarily just on the field but it’s a huge plus and I think having somebody with Cheteshwar Pujara’s temperament in the changing room must be absolutely terrific because in international cricket, there are several moments of tension where people would want to do this or that or the other. When you have somebody who’s going to think about it calmly and give you a measured opinion it makes a big difference,” Gavaskar further said.