- Develop Those Youngsters Around You
Sending Pujara in at No. 3 on his debut
Tipped as a promising talent, Pujara failed in the first innings of his debut Test at Bangalore in 2010 and was under immense pressure to prove the critics wrong.
But in the second innings, things changed completely for him as captain Dhoni did almost the unthinkable. He sent in Pujara at No. 3 ahead of the Mr. Dependable Rahul Dravid.
Pujara, boosted by the confidence showed in him by Dhoni, played a brilliant knock of 72 that is still remembered by cricket enthusiasts fondly. India ultimately won the Test match and took a decent lead in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
And in Pujara, a star was born that day. It was loud and clear that Dhoni was already seeing in him the future No. 3 batsman of Indian cricket who would replace Dravid in Tests.