While Cheteshwar Pujara has been criticised for his slow batting, the Indian Test specialist cricketer doesn’t feel under pressure due to the strong support from the team.
The 32-year-old Cheteshwar Pujara is very famous for his patience batting. Some experts have recently criticised his ultra-slow batting as they believe that it put the team under pressure.
However, Pujara has clarified that he is not under pressure due to the full support from the team, including captain and coach.
Pujara recently told PTI, “I don’t think there is too much talk (on the inside). In media, it is described differently but the team management has been backing me on this completely. There is no pressure from the captain, coach or anyone else.
“I just want to clarify that when it comes to strike rate people start pointing towards team management’s take on it but there is no pressure on me at all. The team management understands my style of play and its importance.”
My job is to make sure that the team wins at all times: Cheteshwar Pujara
Recently, Pujara played in the Ranji Trophy 2019/20 final for Saurashtra against Bengal. Despite feeling unwell due to fever and throat infection, Pujara batted in the crucial first innings of that match where he rescued the team from a tough situation and scored 66 runs off 237 balls.
While people have questioned on that slow knock, Pujara has clarified that his major role is to make sure his team’s victory. That innings played one of the crucial roles for Saurashtra to win their first-ever Ranji Trophy. To help his team in the best way, Pujara likes to maintain his character rather than imitate David Warner or Virender Sehwag like aggressive batting.
Pujara added, “The question that was asked on social media (during Ranji final) was “why am I taking so long to score X number of runs”? Whether I pay attention to that? No, I don’t. My job is to make sure that the team wins at all times.
“People have this tendency to pinpoint one person but it is just not about me. If you look at any Test series where I have scored runs and taken a little bit of time, the opposition batsmen, most of them, have consumed the same number of balls. I know I can’t be a David Warner or Virender Sehwag but if a normal batsman takes time there is nothing wrong with that.”
After playing 77 Tests, Pujara has scored 5,840 runs with an average of 48.66. The right-handed batsman has hit 18 centuries and 25 half-centuries in his Test career. Pujara has clarified that he respects his previous performances but never be satisfied.
He claimed, “People expect big knocks from me. I always challenge myself to score a 100 but to average close to 50 in Tests means you are scoring a half-century almost every second innings. My standards are always high and I am not satisfied with the season that I had but I would not call it a bad one at all.”
Pujara has played 203 first-class matches, 103 List A matches and 64 T20s where he has scored 15,771 runs (average 53.64), 4,445 runs (average 54.20) and 1,356 (average 29.47). Apart from hitting 50 centuries and 60 half-centuries in the first-class career, he has also hit 11 List A centuries and one T20 century.