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On Thursday, February 15, the third Test match between India and England will get underway at the Saurashtra Cricket Association in Rajkot.
The Saurashtra Cricket Association (SCA) will honour Cheteshwar Pujara and Ravindra Jadeja for their achievements to Indian cricket prior to the game.
Jadeja and Pujara are both Saurashtra domestic cricket players, and their accomplishments have made their nation and state proud.
Cheteshwar Pujara is just the 13th Indian player to have played in more than 100 Test matches for his country; Ravindra Jadeja is presently ranked as the best all-rounder in the Test format by the ICC.
Both of these players call Rajkot home, and the SCA has chosen to honour them on Wednesday, February 14 at the stadium’s renaming ceremony.
The Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium will be called Niranjan Shah Stadium from now on.
“We will be felicitating both Pujara and Ravindra during the function for the new name of the stadium,” says SCA President Jaydev Shah, as quoted by CricketNext News18.
The squad for the remaining three Tests was announced by the BCCI on Saturday and Cheteshwar Pujara was not recalled even after performing well in the ongoing Ranji Trophy competition.
Pujara’s decision to not participate is left to the team administration and selectors, so I can’t speak much about it, but we would have been thrilled if he had been present.
We would have been more proud if he had played, not that we aren’t proud now. Few people in India have managed to play as many Test matches as he has.
While it is part of the game, it would have been nice to have him play at Rajkot. Not everything you wish for comes true. He has put in a lot of effort at work. Jaydev says, “He made Saurashtra very proud.”
During the first Test match in Hyderabad on the fourth day of play, Ravindra Jadeja sustained a hamstring injury that kept him out of the second Test in Vizag.
He is anticipated to return to play in the third Test while he is now getting better at the NCA in Bengaluru. On February 14, the SCA will also honour him along with Cheteshwar Pujara.
In Hyderabad, Ravindra Jadeja amassed 87 runs in the opening innings while claiming three wickets.
India and England are now tied 1-1 in their five-match Test series, and both teams will be aiming to win the third Test in Rajkot to grab the lead. India suffered a 28-run defeat in the first Test match of the series in Hyderabad, but rallied to win the second Test in Vizag by 106 runs.
In Vizag, the second Test was conducted sans KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja.
Since 2012, India has not lost a Test series at home. The last time they suffered a loss in India, Rohit Sharma had not yet made his Test debut and was not one of the team’s regular openers. The fact that England is the last team to win a Test makes them unique.
