How does Pujara compare to Dravid ?

[puneet28]

As much as Pujara is modern day great becuse of his resiliance, Dravid was way more aesthetic to watch. Pujara is good, records show that but he doesn't "look" good to watch. I wouldn't do any other comparison. 

[nevada]

3 minutes ago, puneet28 said:

As much as Pujara is modern day great becuse of his resiliance, Dravid was way more aesthetic to watch. Pujara is good, records show that but he doesn't "look" good to watch. I wouldn't do any other comparison. 

Was about to post something similar. Dravid also batted slow, but if you watched the highlight reel, he looked so elegant. Plus he used to smash the short ball unlike Pujara who prefers to take evasive action. 

[goose]

There was a phase in Dravid's career, 1996-2000, when he infuriated, there were calls to drop him, the reason we were drawing games instead of winning them while Tendulkar was going great guns.

[R!TTER]

There was also a phase in his career, post 2001-2006 where he's done done much in SA, Eng, NZ, Oz except that one great series in Eng. I'm no fan of Pujara but two back to back Performances like the against Oz in Oz makes him at least half a step above Dravid IMO. Dravid's definitely better in Eng, arguably NZ as well - though Pujara's heroics in two series put him above the wall, of course he needs to bow out on a high & until then we'll have to reserve judgment about their overall test careers.

[rtmohanlal]

Dravid has been far better as shown by his stats.... Though the first 2 tests performances were  very bad,  Pujara performed superbly over all  in this AUS series too.

So he did what was expected of him to pefection in this series all in all.  But he has been highly inconsistant  as shown by his  track record. Well done to him..

Again hope he continues in this form for the rest of his career rather than regressing  again as he did after that 2018 AUS series. 

Edited January 20, 2021 by rtmohanlal

[Soldier]

Dravid played a lot more games though. Peak Dravid vs peak Pujara is a draw. Both are super Greats. 

 

Why can't we just appreciate both? 

[mani sha]

V interesting comparison 

 

if u limit to tests alone - having seen dravid and been a big fan of him , pujara outclasses him . The reason is pujara holds on to his wicket more dearly than dravid . Dravid the wall had vulnerabilities to bounce - note his poor record in South Africa . Pujara has done better facing higher quality bowling ( yes , dravid faced lesser oppositions as only aussie had good pace attack and South Africa had Donald and pollock ) 

Pujara has faced peak England , goat New Zealand , v bowler friendly South Africa and excellent aussie attacks amd has performed well- well enough to win to back to back series . 
dravid though as a package ( one day  cricket , catching ability and wicket keeping ) makes him the best cricketer india has produced along with kapil and dhoni . Sachin is slightly below these three but that is a different debate ( sorry not a big Sachin fan ) 

[zen]

As I said somewhere - Pujar is a case of the tortoise triumphing over the hares 

 

I have followed India cricket extensively since 1990. Watched some great batsmen over the years. But I have not seen anything like what Pujara did in Aus over the two series (2018/9 and 2020/1). While Sehwag is probably my fav Ind test batsman for his swashbuckling innings and revolutionary approach to test batting (and I tend to prefer the SDPs, Pants, ...), I think, Pujara is the best test batsman that I have seen in terms of battling it out in the middle, valuing his wkt, understanding test cricket, playing it session by session, maximizing his relatively limited talent, bringing out match winning performances against odds (Adelaide 2018, first test first inning, 9th man out - brilliantly run out iirc), standing tall with others falling apart for e.g. carried his bat through (132* in Eng), turning a series big, putting personal milestones aside, and so on. Both these players, on opposite ends of the batting approach spectrum, offer unique value to test cricket ... While some of the other batsmen may be more "popular" or better to "watch", after having seen many of these guys battle it out v the best, Pujara edges ahead in my book at the moment ... a case of the tortoise triumphing over the hares ... I hope that he continues his good work!

 

 

[Straight Drive]

Dravid was better batsman, a better and relatively more agile fielder and more adaptable across formats as compared to Pujara.

 

Pujara is wonderful in tests as well although I would have Dravid in my team ahead of Pujara if I had to pick only one. Both wonderful players though.

[Gambit]

Pujara played very bravely this series, was a vital cog in the win but at the end of the day, he averaged a mere 34 lower than Gill, Rahane and Pant. Dravid during 2002-2006 used to own series in a way Pujara has done just once back in 2018.

 

Pujara has an away average of 37 - 29 in England, 30 in South Africa, 20 in WI and 20 in NZ. There is no way he can be considered better than Dravid and definitely cannot displace anyone in an all time Indian XI with these numbers.

[Vancouver]

I would be infuriated if I was Dravid lol, just because Dravid played show in first half of his career doesn't warrant this comparison.

 

They DON'T have similar batting technique. Imagine what Shoaib Akhtar or Brett Lee would have done to Pujara with short pitched bowling, Shoaib was so frustrated with Dravid (he admitted it so many times afterwards), he ran all the way from boundary steaming in at 155kmph only to meet perfect defence of the wall.

 

People compared Sachin and Gavaskar even though they scored at polar opposite run rate, because the had very similar technique. That's how comparisons work.

 

Pujara is what Dhoni was to LOI cricket, ugly to watch but very effective and unorthodox. 

 

Watch this funny video of Shoaib vs Dravid -

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Za1LdVOlYyQ

[zen]

5 hours ago, mani sha said:

V interesting comparison 

 

if u limit to tests alone - having seen dravid and been a big fan of him , pujara outclasses him . The reason is pujara holds on to his wicket more dearly than dravid . Dravid the wall had vulnerabilities to bounce - note his poor record in South Africa . Pujara has done better facing higher quality bowling ( yes , dravid faced lesser oppositions as only aussie had good pace attack and South Africa had Donald and pollock ) 

Pujara has faced peak England , goat New Zealand , v bowler friendly South Africa and excellent aussie attacks amd has performed well- well enough to win to back to back series . 
dravid though as a package ( one day  cricket , catching ability and wicket keeping ) makes him the best cricketer india has produced along with kapil and dhoni . Sachin is slightly below these three but that is a different debate ( sorry not a big Sachin fan ) 

 

The major quality of Pujara is that he gets the job done by hook or crook. At Brisbane for e.g., when many thought that even lasting the day would be a win, Pujara battled for 5 and 1/2 hours. It would have been easier for him to hit a rash shot in all the pressure created by Aus, where one mistake = game over for Ind. Everyone in the team felt confident with Pujara at the crease soaking the pressure, enabling them to play their natural game

 

Pujara is taking the burden w/o too many major names to support him. Look at the fab 4-5, who played in the comfort and confidence of each other in the team, and still probably would not inspire confidence of drawing the game. While as fans, we knew that if Pujara stays, Ind can do something about the game ... Good looking shots, more talent, blah blah, means little if you cannot inspire confidence in critical situations. That is where Pujara forges ahead of the pack 

[Laaloo]

1 hour ago, Cricspin said:

Just Wanted to add something.. Pujara makes batting look difficult on Pitches where others score and defend with ease .. This series Gill, Pant, Jadeja, Sundar and to a lesser extent Rohit, Thakur Even Rahane showed that. That's like everyone except the tail and out of form Mayank, Shaw etc.

 

Dravid on the other hand used to make batting look easy even when not scoring much where others just could not last longer. This includes batsman like Sachin and VVS sometimes.

 

I just think it's wrong to compare these two players as the only similarities they have are slower strike rate and batting no.3 in tests. 

 

I like Pujara or any batsman who plays well for India. Even if Pujara batting is not gr8 to watch he still adds gr8 value. Comparison also happens inevitably between players but honestly dont find much similar between these two. 

Yup. How pujara played Lyon was some of the worst batting against spin you can imagine. Absolutely atrocious. He was lucky pant blasted Lyon out of the attack in Sydney otherwise Lyon was all over pujara. 

[straighttalk]

This type of comparison is meaningless. Both are great batsmen in their own right. Dravid did have another gear and performed well in T20. But would Dravid get into current Indian ODI and T20 team. I believe Pujara could have also made a good ODI player if given chances   during 1995-2005 era. He could have molded his game. Regarding the pace and beauty of their batting, Dravid is more pleasing perhaps. However, I feel lot of posters are judging Pujara by this series. Memory is short while judging Rahul by youtube clips- selected highlights. Was Pujara always so cagey and limited. I do not think so. His shots do not have a follow through but I have seen him drive cut and pull in previous games. The key is the Indian batting. 
Sehwag Gambhir Dravid Sachin Ganguly Laxman Dhoni is significantly better than the team in this series. Sharma and Rahane  are the next best batsman and Kohli was not there. Yes Gill and Pant played superbly but equally they could have gone out for nothing. Pujara did not have the luxury to be more proactive as his wicket could have consigned India to defeat. Each of Gills pull could have been a wicket. Pant could have been caught or stumped many times. Pujara wanted to hold an end up to ensure the draw whereas others tried to win. Thats why he was not taking the bait. Bowling short is tiring.Why do you think by last session, the Aussies were broken. Thats because Pujara stood up when it mattered. Without Pujara we would have been done and dusted. The bouncer barrage would have been at Sundar and Thakur. Yes they will hit few sixes but can they survive. I doubt it. We were seven down with our tail. We would have been bowled out if we had 20 additional runs. That tail is why Pujara played ugly. 

[rkt.india]

8 hours ago, Laaloo said:

Yup. How pujara played Lyon was some of the worst batting against spin you can imagine. Absolutely atrocious. He was lucky pant blasted Lyon out of the attack in Sydney otherwise Lyon was all over pujara. 

Pujara most often always survive, doesn't matter how he looks. He is the best batsman against spin in this team. 

[rkt.india]

10 hours ago, Cricspin said:

Just Wanted to add something.. Pujara makes batting look difficult on Pitches where others score and defend with ease .. This series Gill, Pant, Jadeja, Sundar and to a lesser extent Rohit, Thakur Even Rahane showed that. That's like everyone except the tail and out of form Mayank, Shaw etc.

 

Dravid on the other hand used to make batting look easy even when not scoring much where others just could not last longer. This includes batsman like Sachin and VVS sometimes.

 

I just think it's wrong to compare these two players as the only similarities they have are slower strike rate and batting no.3 in tests. 

 

I like Pujara or any batsman who plays well for India. Even if Pujara batting is not gr8 to watch he still adds gr8 value. Comparison also happens inevitably between players but honestly dont find much similar between these two. 

This is the same thing people used to say about Dravid too.

[kohli]

5 hours ago, straighttalk said:

This type of comparison is meaningless. Both are great batsmen in their own right. Dravid did have another gear and performed well in T20. But would Dravid get into current Indian ODI and T20 team. I believe Pujara could have also made a good ODI player if given chances   during 1995-2005 era. He could have molded his game. Regarding the pace and beauty of their batting, Dravid is more pleasing perhaps. However, I feel lot of posters are judging Pujara by this series. Memory is short while judging Rahul by youtube clips- selected highlights. Was Pujara always so cagey and limited. I do not think so. His shots do not have a follow through but I have seen him drive cut and pull in previous games. The key is the Indian batting. 
Sehwag Gambhir Dravid Sachin Ganguly Laxman Dhoni is significantly better than the team in this series. Sharma and Rahane  are the next best batsman and Kohli was not there. Yes Gill and Pant played superbly but equally they could have gone out for nothing. Pujara did not have the luxury to be more proactive as his wicket could have consigned India to defeat. Each of Gills pull could have been a wicket. Pant could have been caught or stumped many times. Pujara wanted to hold an end up to ensure the draw whereas others tried to win. Thats why he was not taking the bait. Bowling short is tiring.Why do you think by last session, the Aussies were broken. Thats because Pujara stood up when it mattered. Without Pujara we would have been done and dusted. The bouncer barrage would have been at Sundar and Thakur. Yes they will hit few sixes but can they survive. I doubt it. We were seven down with our tail. We would have been bowled out if we had 20 additional runs. That tail is why Pujara played ugly. 

Sundar & Shardul did excellent work without the help from pujara in first innings, yes they can’t score every time . U don’t need to play pool short always against short bowling, just need to defend successfully or leave it.

[rkt.india]

11 hours ago, Gambit said:

Pujara played very bravely this series, was a vital cog in the win but at the end of the day, he averaged a mere 34 lower than Gill, Rahane and Pant. Dravid during 2002-2006 used to own series in a way Pujara has done just once back in 2018.

 

Pujara has an away average of 37 - 29 in England, 30 in South Africa, 20 in WI and 20 in NZ. There is no way he can be considered better than Dravid and definitely cannot displace anyone in an all time Indian XI with these numbers.

And you forgot he was coming after 8-9 months of no cricket. He played 928 balls, more than anyone else. His contribution this series is more than just about average. Though I still wouldn't say Pujara is better than Dravid.

[urbestfriend]

Dravid played in an era where our fast bowling was not much quality , and there are lot many 500+ scores by the opposition which means Indian batters are in pressure to equal the score. Mostly our batting saved us and in that era, Dravid was the mainstay. Others batted around him.  Nowadays our bowlers always restrict the team under 350-400. Also dravid was more pleasing on the eye. 

But both of them has similar characteristics in general..Discipline and grit. 

[The Realist]