Can't blame long season for poor batting, reckons Cheteshwar Pujara

Team India have had a terrible time with the bat in the ongoing Test series against Australia. Many pundits and critics pointed out that the long home season might have resulted in fatigue that is showing up now. However, India’s middle-order mainstay Cheteshwar Pujara rubbished all such thoughts. The batsman recently spoke at length about the home season of cricket and the current strategies that the team is planning on for the Bengaluru Test. India were bowled out for a mere 189 in the first innings.

The Australians have done well to take a crucial lead and have 4 more wickets in hand to play. Quashing all long season questions, Cheteshwar Pujara remarked that they have been enjoying this plethora of Test cricket. India have played 10 Tests thus far in this home season and the 11th match is underway. They have two more Tests to go after this before the season concludes. Pujara quoted that the matches have been great with the Pune Test being the only exception and the team wishes to forget that game.

“We’ve got enough breaks in between. I don’t think it was a long season. We enjoyed this season because we have won many matches, apart from the last game. This team is strong and I am confident we will come back strongly in this Test and series. Apart from the last Test, we have played really good cricket and we want to produce that cricket again. We just want to forget that game,” quoted the Saurashtra batsman.

Commenting on the current plight of the match, Pujara pointed out that the aim is to bundle out Australia as soon as possible. A good batting performance from thereon could see India on course for a win in the match. He remarked that even on day 2, despite the fact that the team could scalp just wickets, they managed to contain the run flow.

“First things first, we have to get four wickets, and then bat well and put a decent total on the board. Throughout the day we bowled really well, especially our fast bowlers. It wasn’t easy for them, the odd ball was staying low and at the same time they put in a lot of hard work. Our spinners as well, we can see the run rate. In a way it was victory for us. We bowled tight lines. We got only six wickets, but they weren’t able to score runs. If we can get them (Australia’s last four wickets) for another 20-30-40 runs that will be great,” he mentioned.

Trying to analyze where the team is losing their plot in batting, Cheteshwar Pujara cited the lack of partnerships to be the reason. He, however, added that the team now has a plan and will try to correct things soon.

“The most important thing is we didn’t get a partnership. When we did, things were getting easy for us. We kept on losing wickets. There is nothing wrong with the Indian batting line up. We are known to play well against spinners. We just have to have a game plan, and we had a chat in the morning,” he concluded.