What was seen initially doubted as the rank turner before the first ball bowled on March 9 at Narendra Modi Stadium, but later turned out to be a batter’s paradise in comparison to the initial three matches in India vs Australia test series.
After Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli’s ton, team India is leading on Day 4 of the fourth test match in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2023. While visitors managed to post the 480 run mark in their first innings at Ahmedabad Test.
Indian top order batter feels 4th Test match kind of surface is necessary-
“As a batter you always feel happy playing on such pitches because, considering the pitches we played on in the last three Tests, it was challenging. But you need to be positive in terms of your mindset. When you are playing on difficult pitches, you need to understand that we are not going to get big hundreds,” Pujara said.
On day 3 of the fourth test match, Ace Indian batter, Cheteshwar Pujara scored 42 runs in 121 balls and added over 100 runs with Shubman Gill for the second wicket.
It is always Pujara vs Australia in BGT.
This is his legacy. pic.twitter.com/7HFXbuxpUG
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) March 2, 2023
“Even if you get a good 30-40s, it’s as good as 100. When you get such pitches, you try and make the most of it. You need wickets like these at times where batters get chances to score runs,” he further added.
Pujara needed nine runs before the start of the fourth test match to complete 2000 runs in BGT history, and by scoring nine runs in the morning session of Day 3, he became the fourth Indian batter after legendary Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, and Rahul Dravid to complete 2K runs. He is now the sixth-highest run-getter in the BGT.
“We wanted to build a partnership; we knew that once the ball gets older, it will get easier to bat. We thought we’ll bat for another hour, try and build a partnership, rotate the strike. Shubman was batting really well and was taking on the bowlers, so I just had to play my natural game rather than taking any risks,” said ace Indian batter on Shubman Gill’s knock.
Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma-led side needs to win this match to be fully assured of qualification to the World Test Championship (WTC) Final, whereas the ‘Baggy Greens’ has already reached the WTC Final in England after avoiding the clean sweep in the four test matches series.
Till the news was written, India was on 571/8, with Kohli and Mohammed Shami on the crease with 186 and 0 runs respectively. Asian Giants now have a lead of 91 runs in the fourth test match of BGT 2023.