Cheteshwar Pujara Needed To Be Proactive With Scoring Rate: Ricky Ponting

Jan 9, 2021 at 2:17 PM

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Cheteshwar Pujara Needed To Be Proactive With Scoring Rate: Ricky Ponting

Cheteshwar Pujara batted slowly and Ricky Ponting wasn’t impressed by his ultra-defensive approach in the first innings of the ongoing Sydney Test against Australia. The 46-year-old reckons that the batsman’s slow scoring rate puts a lot of pressure on his non-striker partners at the other end.

He scored just 16 runs from the first 100 balls. He then laboured his way to a half-century off 176 balls with 5 fours before edging it to Tim Paine behind the stumps off the bowling of Pat Cummins.

Cheteshwar Pujara
Cheteshwar Pujara (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

Cheteshwar Pujara Needed To Be A Bit More Proactive: Ricky Ponting

Ricky Ponting thinks that Cheteshwar Pujara must be a bit more proactive in his batting. The former Australian captain tweeted:

“I don’t think it was the right approach, I think he needed to be a bit more proactive with his scoring rate because I felt it was putting too much pressure on his batting partners,” Ricky Ponting tweeted.

Ricky Ponting
Ricky Ponting (Image Credit: Twitter)

This is not the first time that the Saurashtra batsman’s defensive approach has come under the scanner. His strike rate has been well below 30 in all the five Tests that he has played in 2020-21 although it was above 50 in 2019 when his average of 46 was considerably better too.

Cheteshwar Pujara Scores At Strike Rate Of 28.41

Cheteshwar Pujara’s wicket triggered a mini-collapse for India. Australia find themselves ahead in the game with a handy first-innings lead of 94 runs. The Saurashtra batsman batted for a long time scoring 50 off 176 balls at a strike rate of 28.41. The dismissal of Rishabh Pant and Cheteshwar Pujara in successive overs when the score was at 195 triggered a mini-collapse.

Rishabh Pant
Rishabh Pant (Image Credit: Getty Images)

India fell from 195/4 to 244 all out, losing their final six wickets for just 49 runs. The hosts have a handy lead of 94 runs and stretched their lead to 197 at stumps on 3rd day. With the pitch deteriorating, India will have to bowl their best to keep the target down to a reasonable level.

The injury of Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja comes as a blow to India who are already without services of injured KL Rahul, Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Shami. The duo is taken for scans to ascertain the nature of the injury.

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