'Thanks for the heads up Josh' - Cheteshwar Pujara responds to Josh Hazlewood for his Mankad warning

India and Australia will be facing each other in the four-Test Border-Gavaskar series down under at the end of this year. The series will be on the to-watch list of fans all over the world, especially after Virat Kohli’s men defeated Tim Paine’s Kangaroos 2-1 to win their maiden Test series last time India toured Australia in 2018-19.

Though there are months before the series begins, with even the ICC T20 World Cup preceding the Test encounters, the mind games have begun. The home side will be at their full strength as David Warner and Steve Smith had missed the previous series due to their ball-tampering ban. They have returned to cricket in style and hammered tons of runs in all formats so far.

Australian fast bowler Josh Hazlewood threw the first verbal volley when he said that he wanted to mankad India’s Cheteshwar Pujara when India and Australia meet later this year in the Test matches. Pujara was the highest run-getter from either side as he accumulated 521 runs from 7 innings and averaged an astonishing 74.42. The Indian batting mainstay faced 1,258 balls in the series hitting 3 tons and a half-century.

“I have saved that (Mankad dismissal) for Pujara on the flat wicket of MCG,” the 29-year-old bowler said on the red carpet of the Cricket Australia Awards.

🗣 "I hope I don't find myself in that situation." – Meg Lanning

🗣 "I reckon I'll save that one for the next time … at Pujara." – Josh Hazlewood@gradecricketer chats with the Aussies about the Mankad 😅 pic.twitter.com/8pSpWSU8a6

— #7Cricket (@7Cricket) February 19, 2020

Pujara thanks Josh Hazlewood for the heads up

Pujara, who is usually the silent one, took to Twitter and thanked Hazlewood for the prior warning and said that he will be prepared for the same. “Thanks for the heads up Josh, I might have to include it in my preparation,” he tweeted. Pujara had scored 106 off 391 balls in a marathon inning of 481 minutes at the MCG in the 2018-19 series.

Thanks for the heads up Josh, I might have to include it in my preparation 😂😂😂 https://t.co/GILpI2dXUn

— cheteshwar pujara (@cheteshwar1) February 20, 2020

The debate of this controversial dismissal got traction when R Ashwin dismissed England batsman Jos Buttler using the technique in a 2019 IPL match between Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals. Ashwin was remorseless for doing this, mentioning that he did everything as per rules and said that he will continue to mankad batsmen if they don’t stay behind the line.

Cricketing legends Dale Steyn, James Anderson, and Shane Warne have called the technique disgraceful and ungentlemanly. However, Mitchell Johnson, Murali Kartik, and Dean Jones have supported the mode of dismissal, saying that the updated laws make it perfectly legal and the onus for fair play is on the batsmen, who need to stay inside the crease until the ball leaves the bowler’s hands.