Ahead of the ICC World Test Championship 2021-23 final in June where Cheteshwar Pujara and Steve Smith will be competing against each other, the two players will get an opportunity to be teammates as the Australian Test vice-captain is all set to join Sussex for three County matches this season.
Notably, Australia and India, finished first and second on the WTC points table respectively to qualify for the summit clash starting at Oval on June 7. Ahead of the all-important match, Pujara had already joined Sussex and is in fact leading the team in Division two of English County Championship.
With the news of Smith joining Sussex getting confirmed, it would interesting to see the skipper, who bats at number 3, followed by Smith, who could bat at number 4, stitch a few partnerships together. Both are among the modern-day greats of the game, especially in red-ball cricket with the Aussie averaging close to 60 in Test matches and Pujara's average also above 43.
Pujara has been in great form and is currently the highest scorer in the second division County. He has accumulated 332 runs from five innings with two centuries already.
“We have spoken, but most of the time we have played against each other. It is never for the same team, so it will be exciting to have him in the same side,” Pujara told Sussex Cricket after the match against Gloucestershire.
"I will try and get his thoughts, try and know him a little better,” he added.
"We will be playing the WTC final, so it will be mixed feelings. On the field we always have good battles, but off the field we are good friends,” the 35-year-old said.
“Will be looking forward to having him in the dressing room and trying to have a chat with him, learn from him, see how he prepares because he has a lot of experience (and) the amount of runs he has scored in Test cricket.” Pujara concluded.