BCCI grants Pujara permission to play county cricket

Cheteshwar Pujara, who was among the top-order batsmen who failed to click in the five-Test series against England that India lost 1-3, has been allowed to play county cricket by the BCCI.

“Pujara is not part of the ODI or T20 team now and is free to play. He sought my permission to play in county cricket and I have asked him to send me the details. I have decided to allow him to play,” BCCI Secretary Sanjay Patel told PTI from Vadodara.

“We have never said no to any player to play in county cricket if it does not clash with our domestic cricket like Ranji Trophy etc. If you remember we had allowed Gautam Gambhir to play in the English country cricket (in 2013 for Essex),” Patel said.

Pujara, considered a Test specialist, and Virat Kohli were expected to be the bulwarks of the young Indian batting line-up, but failed to live up to their reputations in England, where conditions were conducive to swing bowling.

As a result, the team suffered three massive defeats - two of them by an innings - and squandered the series after taking a 1-0 lead by winning the second Test at Lord`s.

Pujara made just 222 runs from 10 innings, with a top score of 55. His struggles, and those of Kohli, led a number of commentators to suggest India’s batsmen should find a way to play county cricket as Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly had all benefitted from playing cricket in England.

Paul Heywood, the Leicestershire chairman, told ESPNcricinfo that “we have been in contact with Pujara.” Leicestershire are currently bottom of Division two but have a history of signing India players, with Anil Kumble and Virender Sehwag representing them as overseas professionals in the past.