England vs India: Cheteshwar Pujara fails on India return after exceptional county stint for Sussex

ENG vs IND, 5th Test, Day 1: Cheteshwar Pujara scored 13 runs with two fours before James Anderson accounted for his wicket.

Cheteshwar Pujara hasn't made the greatest of starts after making his comeback to the Indian team. Earlier this year, the Saurashtra-born batter was dropped from the national team due to lack of form. However, he had a stupendous campaign while playing for Sussex in the County Championship Division 2.

Pujara was the fifth-highest run-scorer in the tournament, having scored 720 runs from five matches at an average of 120 with four centuries and a top score of 203 to show for his efforts.

Along with Pakistan's Shan Masood, Pujara was among the leading run-scorers in the tournament. Nevertheless, he hasn't found it easy on India's ongoing tour of England. In the practice match against Leicestershire, the right-hander got out cheaply.

Pujara didn't perform in the first innings of India's one-off Test against England at Edgbaston in Birmingham. The veteran opened the batting in the absence of Rohit Sharma, who was ruled out of the game after testing positive for Covid-19.

He tried to put his head down and scored 13 runs off 46 balls with the help of two fours. But after showing a lot of promise, Pujara perished to the evergreen James Anderson. The English speedster bowled one outside the off stump and Pujara tried to play a defensive shot.

But the batter only found an outside edge and Zak Crawley took a simple catch at second slip. It was the second Indian wicket to go down after Anderson accounted for Shubman Gill's wicket as well.

For the time being, it remains to be seen if Pujara can stage a comeback in the second innings of the ongoing match in Birmingham.