IPL 2021: Unlucky Cheteshwar Pujara Wants to Play the IPL, Are Teams Listening?

Even though India stalwart Cheteshwar Pujara might have not played a limited-overs game in years, he still harbours hopes to play for India in white-ball cricket and also the IPL. In a recent interaction, he had made it clear that he still wants to prove his mettle in the league if given an opportunity. Back in 2019, the Saurashtra batsman had scored a 61-ball ton in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy too.

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It was back in 2014, that the 33-year-old had last played his IPL match, for KXIP against Mumbai Indians. He had scored 19 runs from 18 deliveries in that encounter. While him getting picked in any of the IPL teams this year, is subject to a lot of factors, Cricketnext takes a look at teams, that could be interested in bidding for Pujara, if available.

Kings XI Punjab

KXIP had a horrific outing in the 2020 edition of the IPL. After starting strongly they kept losing, despite playing well in patches. While Mayank Agarwal and KL Rahul shone at the top, middle-order was found wanting. Glenn Maxwell failed miserably as well. While they have retained Chris Gayle and Nicholas Pooran, they need a played who can build an innings, and Pujara could be the player for them.

Rajasthan Royals

RR looked a formidable side on paper, but missed the presence of English stars in the team for major part of the tournament last year. This year too they have retained the core team, but the addition of Pujara could just boost their batting a bit more. Also presence of a senior India batsman could bolster their chances.

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Sunrisers Hyderabad

There's hardly any doubt that SRH is one of the most consistent teams in the tournament and the biggest reason for that is their strong bowling lineup. While there is not much to show in the batting department apart from skipper David Warner and Kane Willamson. If they can get Pujara in their side, it could just prove a game-changing decision for them.

• Cheteshwar Pujara
• cricket
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• IPL 2021
• KXIP
• RR
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