Former India head coach Ravi Shastri has criticized Cheteshwar Pujara after his poor dismissal in the ongoing ICC World Test Championship final against Australia at the Oval, London.
India needed to reply strongly with the bat after Australia posted a big total of 469 in their first innings. However, the Rohit Sharma-led failed to start well as the top-order could not get going. Openers Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill departed in successive overs to leave the team reeling at 30 for 2.
And 20 runs later, Cheteshwar Pujara departed too after his decision to shoulder arm a delivery from Cameron Green costed him his wicket. The right-handed batsman misjudged the length of the ball and left it at the last moment only to regret his decision as the ball went on to crash into the stumps. Before him, Shubman Gill was also dismissed him in the same manner as he too shouldered arm Scott Boland’s delivery only to be clean bowled.
Ravi Shastri on Cheteshwar Pujara’s dismissal:
With Cheteshwar Pujara managing to score only 13 runs before being dismissed in a disappointing manner, Ravi Shastri has criticized the batsman. The former India allrounder commented on Pujara and Gill’s similar dismissal, saying that while the youngster will learn from his mistake, the experienced batsman will be disappointed.
“Shubman Gill will learn, but Cheteshwar Pujara should be disappointed by that dismissal,” Shastri said as he explained how Pujara lacked the foot movement.
A lot was expected from Pujara who has been in England from the last couple of months, playing for Sussex in Division 2 of the County Championship. He hit three centuries for the county outfit but failed to replicate that form for India. Pujara will be hoping to deliver with the bat in the second innings. Talking about the game, India were on 151 for 5 at stumps on day 2.
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