Harbhajan Singh heaps praise on Cheteshwar Pujara: His contribution has always been there

Former India spinner Harbhajan Singh has heaped praise on Cheteshwar Pujara, saying the top-order batsman has been excellent for India while playing away games.

Following a few poor performances, Pujara was dropped from Team India for their home series against Sri Lanka earlier this year. However, the 34-year-old batsman decided to use his off time away from the national team by going to England and play in the County Championship for Sussex.

Pujara achieved great success with Sussex as he scored two double centuries and as many hundreds. He was also praised by many for his decision to go to England, with the latest one being Harbhajan.

During a discussion with Sportskeeda, the legendary off-spinner praised Pujara for heading over to England and also pointed out that at times his contributions to the team go unnoticed.

"He has been playing continuously in English conditions. Though you might say that in County cricket, the quality of bowlers is not like in international cricket, yes in county cricket also you encounter one or two bowlers, who play international cricket. It's good to see Pujara picked this option to go and play County. He was in good form there. His contribution has always been there. When we went to Australia, he had a big contribution though people talk less about him," Harbhajan said.

The former Indian spinner went on to add that no Indian batsman has done a better job than Pujara in England and he makes it easier for his fellow batsmen.

"In England also whenever there is need to take the shine off the ball, to score runs and to hold one end, nobody has done the job better than Pujara. Talwar unke upar latak gayi thi. It was like 'Drop him, others are playing alright' which I thought was wrong.

Pujara has been phenomenal for Team India when it comes to touring abroad because he doesn't get out, he makes it easier for others, he takes the shine off the ball. That's the reason India have won so many games abroad," added Harbhajan in the same interview.

Last year, during India's tour of England, Pujara scored 227 runs in four Tests at an average of 32.43. He was India's third best batsman after Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul – both are unavailable for the upcoming one-off Test.

Pujara will now be in action in India's one-off Test against England, which is scheduled to begin on Friday (July 1) at Edgbaston, Birmingham.