Thaindian News

New Delhi, May 29 (IANS) Cheteshwar Pujara, eying a comeback into the Test side, is hoping that South Africa one-day skipper Ab de Villers’ advice will help him during India A tour of the West Indies.

Pujara will captain the side for the series beginning with the first unofficial Test in Barbados Saturday.

The 25-year-old batsman, who lost his place in the side following a knee injury last year, said his aim in the Caribbean would be to score runs and be in the reckoning for the Test spot vacated by the great Rahul Dravid.

“(RCB teammate) de Villiers gave me some good batting tips during the Indian Premier League (IPL). Since he has also toured there and is a world-class batsmen, I hope the advice would come in handy,” Pujara told reporters on the sidelines of India A training camp at the Ferozshah Kotla here Tuesday.

Talking about his comeback, Pujara said: “I don’t any feel pressure. It is a big motivation to play for India ‘A’ and captain the side. It is a given that any good performance at this level will be noticed. Most of us have played for ‘A’ team on overseas tours, so we go there with experience.”

Pujara played last of his three Tests in South Africa in January 2011. Though he impressed many at the start of his career, a knee surgery kept him out the game for a long time.

Asked whether his career is back to square one, Pujara said: “I won’t say that I am starting from scratch. After coming back from injury, I had played four Ranji matches as many in the Duleep Trophy. I also played a few matches for RCB during IPL.”

The Gujarat-born cricketer featured in three of the 16 matches for RCB in IPL-V.

The India A squad, which also includes Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan leaves Wednesday morning.