India vs England: Cheteshwar Pujara drops his bat, gets run out in bizarre fashion

For the second time in the ongoing second Test against England in Chennai, Cheteshwar Pujara failed to score big. The India batting star was out for just 21 in the first innings of the game and performed poorly in the second innings too. He managed to score only 7 as India’s top-order crumbled in the second innings.

Pujara’s short stay at the crease came to an end after he was dismissed in bizarre fashion on ongoing day three of the game. Ollie Pope and Ben Foakes combined to run him out against the run of play. On the final ball of the 19th over, Pujara decided to dance down the track in order to flick Moeen Ali to the leg-side.

He connected well with the ball but failed to guide his shot past Pope who was standing at short leg. in the meantime, Pope quickly threw the ball to Foakes behind the stumps to attempt a run-out. The England wicketkeeper took the bails off in a flash before appealing for a run-out. At that stage, it looked like Pujara was safe and perhaps that is why Foakes was the only England player who looked interested in the run-out.

And soon replays showed why Foakes was appealing for the run-out. While trying to get inside the crease quickly, Pujara ended up dropping his bat after it jammed on the track. He then decided to get inside the crease with his right foot but before he could do that, Foakes took the bails off.

Here is a clip of Cheteshwar Pujara’s dismissal:

Pujara with the weirdest runout I’ve seen in a while. #INDvsENG #INDvENG pic.twitter.com/VGR9R6lYuT

— Brendan Bradford (@1bbradfo) February 15, 2021

India in driver’s seat

As far as the game is concerned, India are well in command despite a top-order collapse in the second innings. The hosts had taken a mammoth lead of 195 after bowling out England for a paltry 134. Prior to that, India had scored 329 in their first innings thanks to a 161-run knock from Rohit Sharma and fifties from Ajinkya Rahane and Rishabh Pant.

In the second innings, India were off to a poor start and were reduced to 86 for 5 and then 106 for 6 before Virat Kohli and Ravichandran Ashwin steadied the ship. At lunch on day three, India were on 156 for 6 with their overall lead extended to 351.