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World's best bats to team up for Yorkshire

Star India batsman looking forward to taking to the field with England Test captain next month in County Championship

It's not often two players of different nationalities both among the handful of the world's best Test batsmen get to play side-by-side in first-class cricket.

And Yorkshire import Cheteshwar Pujara won't fail to take advantage of the rare opportunity when England's Test skipper Joe Root returns to county ranks for a brief stint next month.

Root, along with wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow, is set to turn out for his home club in a pair of four-day County Championship games against Essex and Surrey in early May ahead of England's two-Test series against Pakistan beginning May 24.

With a five-Test campaign against India coming up in August, Pujara said he's looking forward to renewing acquaintances with Root.

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"I'm really looking forward to playing with him," Pujara told the Yorkshire Post. 

"I would like to learn from him and speak to him about how he prepares before a game. I would also like to ask him how his experience has been in international cricket so far.

"He's improved a lot since I first saw him in 2012 when he came to India with the England team (where Root made his Test debut). 

"He's a different player now from what he was then and has gone on to become one of the best in the world."

Yorkshire sat atop the Division One table as they began their third match of the season against Somerset (a side featuring Matthew Renshaw) on Friday with Pujara managing 2 and 18 in his two hits so far.

Like Root, Pujara was overlooked by Indian Premier League sides for this year's tournament but the snub could be a blessing for the right-hander.

"At the start of the season, I think the wickets will be challenging," Pujara told Yorkshire's official website earlier this month. "So it's about spending a lot of time at the crease and scoring as many runs as possible.

"As a team, it's always important to start off well. You can then carry that momentum on. It is always challenging as a batsman to play in England, but it's something I look forward to.

"You don't just want to play on flat wickets. You want to score runs on challenging pitches. When you do that, you are more confident and satisfied."

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Yorkshire, comfortably England's most successful county in Championship history, will be able to call on four of the world's top 13 Test batsmen, and three of the top seven, at different stages of the season.

New Zealand captain Kane Williamson (fourth on the ICC's Test batting charts) will replace Pujara (seventh) halfway through the season. Root sits third while Bairstow ranks 13th, the highest of any keeper.

Towering Australia quick Billy Stanlake, who's currently on the mend from a broken finger that cut short his IPL stint with Sunrisers Hyderabad, is also set to the join Yorkshire for the T20 Blast later in the northern summer.