IND vs ENG | Pujara does the job but has to score at a rate beneficial to him and team, states Brian Lara
Brian Lara has reckoned that Cheteshwar Pujara does the job for India but he has to find a way to score at a rate which benefits him and the team. Pujara was recently under the scanner for his poor outings with the bat but scored a crucial 206-ball 45 in the second innings of the Lord's Test.
Cheteshwar Pujara's form has been under the scanner, owing to his poor run in the home Test series against England and the World Test Championship (WTC) final. His dwindling form continued in the first Test versus England at Trent Bridge as he registered scores of 4 and 12 not out runs in the first and second innings respectively. However, with his very crucial 206-ball 45 in the second innings of Lord's Test Pujara regained management's faith in him and also reminded them of his role in the team.
Talking about India's number three Cheteshwar Pujara, batting great Brian Lara has said that the 33-year-old does the job for the team but has to find more scoring opportunities during his innings. He also acknowledged the importance of Pujara in the batting line-up but at the same suggested that the right-hander has to find a way to improve his strike rate to help himself and the team.
“Pujara, definitely for me, I mean as a batsman, I am not the same as a player, that ability to be so patient and score at such a low strike rate.
“So, for me, if I was a coach or if I was someone that wanted Pujara to improve, I would try to create a lot more shots and try to score a strike rate that is more beneficial to him and the team," Brian Lara said on ‘Follow The Blues’ exclusively on Disney+ Hotstar.
“He does the job, and I know the job he does, but I just feel that when you bat that slowly, there are a lot of momentum swings in your innings and you allow the bowlers so many deliveries at yourself, even before you get to three figures that you are going to find yourself coming up short a lot of times,” Lara said about Pujara, who took as many as 35 deliveries to open his account in the second innings of the Lord's Test.
However, Pujara, after India’s historic series win in Australia, earlier this year had said, “Strike rate talk are overrated. There are times when balls faced matter a lot more than runs scored.”
Further, there were murmurs in the cricketing circle that Suryakumar Yadav should be given a chance ahead of Cheteshwar Pujara in the third Test at Headingley but Virat Kohli and the team management have fielded the same eleven in Leeds.
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