Former Australian captain Ian Chappell has had heaps of praise for Indian middle order batsman Cheteshwar Pujara for the way he plays spin bowling.
The 28-year old is one of the best players of spin bowling in world cricket as his record in the sub continent speaks for himself. Pujara have been in phenomenal form in the ongoing New Zealand series as he managed to score three fifties in the first two tests as he piled up 197 runs. He has scored two half centuries in the first test at Kanpur and have also managed to score another fifty at Eden Gardens in the first innings.
Pujara have scored 1857 runs in the sub-continent so far in his career at an impressive average of 66.32 in 20 tests.
“I especially enjoyed the play of Cheteshwar Pujara — I love the way he quickly gets back to either play a forcing shot through the covers or a pull to the mid-wicket boundary,” the former Australian captain in a column for ESPN Cricinfo.
“Many batsmen limit themselves by “closing off” when they play the pull shot but Pujara opens up (thrusting his left leg towards the square-leg umpire) and creates a wider arc in which to place the ball. He was well supported by Murali Vijay, a dangerous opponent because he handles the new ball competently and can extend his innings by playing spin bowling well.”
The 73-year old Ian Chappell has also picked out Indian opener Murali Vijay for his ability to play pace and spin equally well as he picked out Pujara, Vijay and Virat Kohli as the best players of playing spin in the world cricket at the moment.
“It’s this type of decisive footwork that allows a batsman to dictate the bowler’s field placings. Both Pujara and Vijay did this exquisitely by employing the late cut and either the square-cut or the forcing shot off the backfoot. By playing both shots they forced the fielding captain to place a man behind, as well as just in front of point.”
“He (Pujara) was well supported by Vijay, a dangerous opponent because he handles the new ball competently and can extend his innings by playing spin bowling well. This pair and Virat Kohli give India a trifecta of batsmen who can dictate terms to opposition spinners,” Chappell said.