Former Indian Cricketer Blames the Management for Messing with Pujara’s Game

The batting techniques of the Indian batsmen have been stuck in an unbreakable limbo of errors when it comes to overseas conditions.

Cricket news: India’s batting techniques in overseas conditions has also been stuck in a lot of errors

They have always been tempted to poke the ball outside the off stump or to pull the short ball in a momentary madness and hand their wicket to the opposition.

The recent example is that of Cheteshwar Pujara whose recent change in technique is piling up on miseries on the other batsmen. Former Indian opener Sunil Gavaskar tried to decode the recent change in Pujara’s style.

Pujara has always been known to stay at the crease for a longer period of time and play the shots with classical technique. But that very same player stunned everyone and himself as he pulled a short ball from Chris Woakes and was caught by Adil Rashid at the stroke of lunch.

Sunil Gavaskar wrote on his column for The Times of India stating, “Pujara, whose mind has been messed up by being told about his scoring rate, went for a hook on the stroke of lunch and was caught at the deep square leg. That’s not his natural shot and just showed that when you try and tell a batsman to change his approach after he has got more than 4000 runs, it can be counter-productive. Pujara’s strength is occupying the crease, so that batsmen at the other end can play their shots around him.”

However the veteran cricketer also hoped that India would put on a better performance than the previous Tests and going to bat first will prove a blessing in disguise.

“India losing the toss and being asked to bat first could well turn out to be a blessing in disguise for with the way the pitch has played the ball could turn for the team batting last and that won’t be easy to negotiate,” Gavaskar said.

The 69-year-old also praised the Indian openers for the way they stuck their neck out early in the innings in testing conditions.

“When the Indians got to 50 without losing a wicket, Joe Root, the England skipper would have been wondering if his decision to field first was correct. Dhawan and Rahul looked good as they played close to the body didn’t poke outside the off stump and looked solid,” he concluded.