I feel the biggest problem is that Cheteshwar Pujara is again not thinking about runs: Aakash Chopra

Despite all his achievements in the past, it is safe to say that Cheteshwar Pujara looks like a pale shadow of his former self. The batter has had a torrid time with the bat for quite a while now. He went on to fail in both the innings of the Centurion Test too.

While he was dismissed for a golden duck in the first innings, he got out after scoring a 64-ball 18 in the second. It is to be noted that India’s number three in Tests hasn’t scored a hundred since 2019. Thus, the cricketer-turned-commentator Aakash Chopra recently went on to decipher his batting approach.

On Tuesday, while speaking on his YouTube channel, the former Indian cricketer pointed out the main issue behind his poor form of late. He felt that the 33-year-old has forgotten how to score runs, and has been defensive in his approach.

Cheteshwar Pujara’s best friend is his patience: Aakash Chopra

“I feel the biggest problem is that Pujara is again not thinking about runs. His best friend is his patience, his second-best friend is his defense and he has started living with these two friends so much that he has forgotten about the third, which is the most important, that is scoring runs,” said Aakash Chopra.

The 44-year-old also questioned his intent and felt that the right-handed batter was only waiting for the bad balls. However, he went on to mention the fact that a batter doesn’t get too many bad balls in the longest format of the game. Last but not the least, he also spoke about Pujara constantly getting out to wicket-taking balls.

“He just keeps the bat in the middle with very little intent it seems. It is neither going forward nor back. If he is not trying to play shots, he is waiting for half-volleys, a ball on the legs or a short ball where he can play the cut. If you don’t get bad balls regularly, which you don’t get in Test cricket, then a long time passes without you having scored runs. Then you get the wicket-taking balls and we all talk about why Pujara gets so many wicket-taking balls, it is because the bowlers are not scared that they will be hit for fours and they keep bowling at one spot and they bowl the magic ball,” he added.