Cheteshwar Pujara should rotate the strike, otherwise his batting partner will be in trouble: Dilip Vengsarkar

After losing the first Test match of the series against New Zealand by a margin of 10 wickets, team India has come under a lot of scrutiny from the fans and the experts. And, joining the bandwagon of the critics was former team India player, Dilip Vengsarkar, who came out and pointed out the flaws in the team he noticed during the match.

Team India, after having won the T20I series against New Zealand by a 5-0 margin, went on to lose the One Day International series by a 3-0 margin. And, things got even worse when the team went down in the first Test of the two-match series, after an underwhelming performance. The department of the Indian team that came under scrutiny the most was the batting.

Commenting on team India’s batting, Vengsarkar who had held the post of India’s chief selector pointed out all the areas of improvements and suggested certain tactics that could work wonders for them. He told that because of the fact that Cheteshwar Pujara, one of India’s top Test batsman was not able to rotate strike that often, led to his partner losing the flow of his batting and getting dismissed. He also added that Ajinkya Rahane not being able to convert his starts into big scores troubled the team.

Dilip Vengsarkar believes that ‘Pujara cannot be bogged down’

“He (Pujara) has scored a lot of runs, but he has to be able to rotate the strike, otherwise his batting partner will be in trouble as he will lose the rhythm being stranded at the other end for long periods. Pujara can’t get bogged down. Also, Ajinkya Rahane was not able to convert his starts,” Vengsarkar was quoted saying by Times Now.

He also praised the New Zealand bowling attack for not letting any batsman of the Indian team settle in on the pitch once he stepped onto the crease. He said, “They have not allowed the team to settle down. The opening combination is not settled, and so is the middle-order.”

Team India, at this point in time, would be looking to win the upcoming Test match at any cost, and level the series 1-1, instead of losing the match, or drawing it, which would lead to New Zealand winning the series.