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First century of the season for Pujara -- 101* off 93 balls.

Aaron and Pujara playing against each other today in a One-day match. Aaron went for 35 runs in 5 wicketless overs, after making 14* off 8 balls. Pujara is 32* off 41 balls in what is looking like a fluid chase.

Pujara finished on 75* as Yorkshire won by 9 wickets.
He has performed solidly in the one-day games, and it’s good to see him back in fine form. In four matches (once not out), he has made 331 runs, and never failed to cross 50 in any one-day innings!

England got thrashed by test minnows Pakistan; I think we will see wholesale changes before the India series.

The England batting line-up is absurd. With Alistair Cook struggling, it basically boils down to Joe Root and the two 'keeper-batsmen -- Bairstow and Buttler. The rest are no-names like Stoneman, Malan, etc.

Don't forget Stokes. He is a pretty good bat at home good for #5-7. They need an opener and a lower order bat. Moeen faded. Either bring him back or find someone else.

I'll never forget how Stuart Broad single-handedly beat us with bat and ball at Trent Bridge in 2011. It is utterly confounding that he is now a proper rabbit tail-ender again. He will surely revive his batting talents just in time for us in the late summer!

India A have been in rampaging form since arriving in England, although the quality of the opposition may be somewhat questionable. Yesterday, India A made 458/4 in 50 overs (Prithwi Shaw 132 off 90 balls, Mayank Agarwal 151 retd off 106 balls, Shubman Gill 86 off 54 balls) against Leicestershire, who were bowled out for 177 (Chahar 3/24, Axar Patel 2/18, Hooda 2/9).

In their previous match (the first on the tour, I think) India A beat an ECB XI by 125 runs. India A made 328/8 in 50 overs (Shaw 70 off 61, Shreyas Iyer 54 off 45, Ishan Kishan 50 off 46), and then bowled out ECB XI for 203 (Chahar 3/48, Axar 2/21).

I think this England series will remove some of the deadwood. For Dhawan and Pujara, it is time to show they can bat overseas or be dropped. Here are the away records. S=South Africa, E=England, N=NZ, A=Aus. I include more countries to at least have 20 innings if possible.

Dhawan (SANE, 22 inn) 27.81
Vijay (SEN, 26 inn) 28
Rahul (Away, 19 inn) 34.94, although his average in RSA and Aus is 20. He has not played in Eng and NZ. But, given that Dhawan and Vijay have been poor, I would rather try a new guy, Rahul.

Given these and the eye test, our away openers should be Vijay and Rahul.

Pujara (SEN, 27 inn) 25.66
Rahane (SANE, 27 inn) 46.91 --- He really needs to be in form!
Kohli (SEN, 24 inn) 39.39 --- Our next best bet. He too needs to be in form!

Karthik (Away, 22 inn) 32.28
Saha (Away, 20 inn) 29.47

Given these numbers, choosing Dhawan or Pujara is possibly futile. That is why I was saying we should try Nair even though Sin Hombre does not like him. How much worse can he be to Dhawan or Pujara? Whatever it is, I would rather try an unknown youngster than a failed senior. Sometimes people score runs just by pluck even though they do not have the technique. That is also why, I would choose Dhawan over Pujara if someone insists on having one of them and play Rahul at #3.

By just the numbers, it should be: Vijay, Rahul, Rahane, Kohli, Karthik.

And Pujara is in terrible form in England at the moment. Except for a few 50 over matches, his average in current stint with Yorkshire is probably below 10.

Pujara had a brief patch of good form in List A matches, but has been woeful in first-class matches for Yorkshire. He fell for a duck to Dale Steyn (playing for Hampshire) in the latest first-class game, having also fallen to him for a duck in a List A game a couple of days earlier!

Pujara finally got some first-class runs in England, making 32 in the second innings against Hampshire (which has an opening pair that is thoroughly world-class, with Dale Steyn and Fidel Edwards sharing the new ball!). Pujara fell to a medium-pacer called Ian Holland (born in Wisconsin, to a British father who moved to Australia when Ian was a kid).

Pujara seems to keep running into South African bowlers. Today, he is batting on 0* off 41 balls against Surrey, whose opening attack comprises Morne Morkel and Jade Dernbach.

And he falls for 23 off 111 balls

West Indies A bowled out for 221 by India A in the tri-series (List A, 50 over) tournament. Deepak Chahar took 5/27.