I had no choice but to stay and bat in Ranji semi-final, says Cheteshwar Pujara

Saurashtra had a highly eventful outing against Karnataka in the semi-final of 2018-19 Ranji Trophy season which the former eventually won by five wickets. Pujara starred in the match as he scored 45 in the first innings and posted a total of 131* in the second to lead his team to the final of the domestic competition. However, things could have easily gone in the opposite direction if Pujara was given out on two different occasions during the first and second innings respectively.

The veteran Indian batsman was at the end of two controversial decisions which were both given in his favour as the Karnataka players were left furious. In the second innings with Saurashtra needing 55 runs to win, Pujara got a faint nick in the 24th over after which Karnataka captain Vinay Kumar and the rest of the team burst out into celebration as they thought was the wicket of the match. However, the umpire kept his finger in his pocket as Pujara stood firm at the crease as though nothing happened, much to Kumar's disbelief.

But the Indian Test cricketer gave his opinion on the incident while he featured on a recent talk show alongside Karnataka’s Mayank Agarwal.

"Basically, it was a tough situation in the game and we were already three down especially in the second innings. Unfortunately, it happened in the first innings also. When you look at Ranji Trophy not many players walk. I would say 99 per cent players don’t walk and I am part of that group of players.

"See, it was a crucial game for us and obviously we wanted to win the semi-finals. It was a great moment for the Saurashtra team and being one of the senior players, I wanted to make sure that we win that match. Usually, I don’t prefer to walk because sometimes you get a bad decision and you still have to walk. If you are given out incorrectly, I don’t think they would have called me back. I had no choice to stay and bat," Pujara said on a recent talk show "What The Duck".