Cheteshwar Pujara loves batting and loves wearing the bowlers down: Sunil Gavaskar

The former cricketers are of the opinion that if someone can bring down the heat to the Aussies in India captain Virat Kohli's absence it will be Cheteshwar Pujara. In recent years, the Saurashtra-born batsman has been one of the top performers in Test cricket.

Speaking at Star Sports' Game Plan show, former India captain Sunil Gavaskar and Matthew Hayden has showered rich praises on star batsman Cheteshwar Pujara and expects him to dominate in the longest format.

"Out of 20 days of Test cricket that we have ahead of us, we are really happy to have him bat for 15 days, there is no question about it," Gavaskar said during the show.

A mentally strong player

"Whether he has played any cricket or not, I don't think it's going to make any difference because he is so strong mentally."

A batsman who always overcomes tough bowling opposition

"He loves batting, he loves being at the crease, he loves wearing the bowlers down. In the last two years, he has also improved his strokes and range of shots."

Cheteshwar Pujara currently leads the top run-scorer list among the active players when India and Australia have faced each other in the Tests. The 32-year-old Saurashtra batsman has 1,622 runs in 29 innings while Virat Kohli and Steve Smith are at second and third place with 1,604 runs in 33 innings and 1,429 runs in 20 innings respectively.

"He hurt us badly (the last time). We are of a generation now where we are admiring people for their stroke play, we are admiring people for their strike rate. Well, he is one of the few guys in Test cricket that have a strike rate of sub 45 and he can hurt you," former Australia opener Matthew Hayden said during the show. 

The four-match Border-Gavaskar Test series is set to kick off on December 17 at Adelaide. The first of four Test matches will be a pink-ball D/N (Day and Night) Test.