Cheteshwar Pujara and Wriddhiman Saha's epic reply to Josh Hazlewood's sledging attempt

View : 280

3 Min Read

Cheteshwar Pujara & Wriddhiman Saha
info
Cheteshwar Pujara & Wriddhiman Saha. (Photo Source: BCCI)

The Indian team that looked in trouble at one point in their batting reply after Australia posted 451 in the first inning went on to take a sizeable 152 runs lead. It was on the back of a splendid partnership between Cheteshwar Pujara and Wriddhiman Saha who batted together for almost 78 overs and added 199 runs. Pujara scored a double century while Saha also got his third Test hundred in the process.

He has been coming of age as a batsman in the recent past, scoring a hundred in West Indies was the moment that probably changed his confidence and since then he hit a hundred against Bangladesh and repeated it again in Ranchi on a difficult wicket. Talking to the media after the end of day’s play Saha said: “We needed a partnership, and we built it slowly. Puji (Pujara) made a double hundred and I made a hundred. This has to be the best,”

Saha also added that he hasn’t changed his batting a lot but now backs himself to well more often and that has seen the difference in performances. “Not too many changes. But I am backing myself a lot more. Initially, when I came into the Test team, I played my go-to shots — the sweep and the shot over the top stepping out – hesitantly. But now I am 100% confident. The team, the captain, the coaches, everyone is fully behind me and that is good for me.” The 32-year-old said.

Pujara and Saha have a great understanding between them and have played along for India A recently had also stitched together a 316-run partnership for Rest of India in the Irani Cup. Detailing about their chemistry the wicketkeeper-batsman said said: “The way Puji was batting, you didn’t ever feel that a wicket would fall at one end. We had a 300-run partnership in the Irani Cup, that was there on our mind too. We believed that we can bat together for long.

“In that game, Puji backed me and encouraged me to play my shots and be positive. The same approach was there today as well. Even when I defended, I did it in a positive sense and when I played my shots, they were also in a positive sense. He backed me, hence it was possible to have a good partnership.”

Like everyone even his batting partner was in awe with the marathon knocks he can play. “Puji shows a lot of patience in domestic cricket, regularly makes 200s and 300s in domestic cricket. From there, his patience is always on the top. The way he showed patience here even as wickets were falling at the other end after short partnerships, he was trying to curtail his shots and have as long a partnership as possible,” Saha said.

The Australian bowlers tried everything but weren’t able to break the stand and then they opted for sledging as well but that didn’t work either. “During the game, this (banter) happens from time to time. All Pujara told Josh Hazlewood was ‘Look at the scoreboard’. He told me something and I also told him to just go and bowl, nothing more than that.”

David Warner and Matt Renshaw walked out to bat for 8 overs today and the task ahead of them was to bat out those overs since the Indian team were in the attack mode all out with fielders surrounding the bat and spinners bowling in tandem. They lost two wickets in Warner and night watchman Nathan Lyon and survival seems difficult for them on the last day.

“In the final eight overs of the day, they lost two wickets, there was a bit of pressure on them because it was towards the end of the day’s play and they were focussed on survival. We played well but they also bowled well. We batted more than 200 overs, we were availing the loose balls and respecting the good balls. If we bowl tomorrow (Monday) like we did in these eight overs, consistently in the right areas, then hopefully tomorrow will be a good day for us,” Saha said.

Get every cricket updates! Follow Us:

googletelegraminstagramwhatsappyoutubethreadstwitter

Download Our App

For a better experience: Download the CricTracker app from the IOS and Google Play Store