“Who is going to be our Pujara from last time?”, asks Dravid ahead of Test series

After the limited overs series, the focus now shifts to the longest format of the game, the Test series.

Australia have won the ODI series while India bounced back to win the T20I series. Now, both the teams will lock horns for the Test series which will begin from December 17.

Talking about the series Dravid said that India needs someone to replicate what Pujara did last time.

“Who is going to be our Pujara from last time? I’m saying (that because) Pujara scored 500-plus runs last time, (so) you (are) going to need one of your batsmen (to repeat that),” said Dravid, during the Mutual Funds annual conclave ‘The Winners’ Circle’ organised by L&T Financial Services.

“Either it is going to be Pujara himself – obviously, it can’t be Kohli because he is not going to be there for the whole (tour) – but you are going to need one of your batsmen at least in my opinion over the four Test matches to get you something like 500 runs.

“They will be challenging conditions: Australia will try and put out conditions which will support the quality of fast bowlers. So will we be able to match that? I think we will be able to get 20 wickets over five days.

“(But) will we get a batsman who will get 500-plus runs for us in the series (or not) might define it; if we can get that, then we give ourselves a great chance.

“If one of Smith and Warner, who missed the last series, get that then they (Australia) probably will have the edge,” Dravid concluded.