Pujara to share dressing room with Steve Smith ahead of WTC final
Indian batsman Cheteshwar Pujara will get a chance to take stock of Steve Smith’s preparations ahead of the World Test Championship (WTC) final starting June 7 as the former Australia captain will play three county matches for Sussex this month. The WTC final will be played between India and Australia at The Oval from June 7 to 11. Pujara, who currently captains Sussex in the longer format, will bat at number three while Smith will bat at number four.
Smith is expected to play for Sussex in three matches against Worcestershire (May 4-7), Leicestershire (May 11-14) and Glamorgan (May 18-22). With these matches, Smith will prepare for the WTC final and the Ashes series against England starting June 16. When asked about playing with Smith from Sussex Cricket, Pujara said, “We both talk to each other but most of the time we have played cricket against each other. We have never been in a team. So it will be thrilling to be in the same team with him. I’ll try to understand him a little better in the meantime.”
Pujara admitted that sharing the dressing room with Smith ahead of the WTC final would be mixed feelings for him. “We will be playing in the WTC final so it will be mixed emotions. We have always given tough competition to each other on the field but we are good friends off the field. “Pujara said,” I am thrilled to share the dressing room with him. I will try to talk to him and learn from him and see how he prepares because he is very experienced and has scored a lot of runs in Test cricket.
