Rohit Sharma’s Attacking Batting Created Panic In Australia’s Camp: Cheteshwar Pujara
Jun 19, 2020 at 2:54 PM
Cheteshwar Pujara was an integral part of India’s triumph in the 2018-2019 Test series against Australia at their home. India created history as they registered maiden Test series win in Australian soil. Pujara recalls the first Test match win of that series where Rohit Sharma got on the nerves of the opposition bowling line up.
In the first Test match, India had an early batting collapse. KL Rahul (2), Murali Vijay (11), Virat Kohli (3) and Ajinkya Rahane (13) were out within 20 overs. Rohit Sharma entered the field when India was at 40/4, and Cheteshwar Pujara was at the crease. The visitors need a stable partner to be alive in the match.
Pujara recalled that Rohit was confident and told him that he would play an attacking game. They both stick to their plan which worked in India’s favour.
When I spoke to Rohit Sharma when he came in to bat… : Cheteshwar Pujara
“When I spoke to Rohit when he came in to bat, he told me that he’s going to take them on. So that was his plan, which was correct at that stage because they were bowling in good areas and he was very confident that he could go after them,” Pujara told Arjun Pandit on the Sony Ten Pitstop Show.
As per Pujara, when Rohit started hitting boundaries to Australian bowlers, they went under pressure. Rohit hit three sixes and two fours in his 37 off 61 balls innings. He added only 45 runs with Pujara though it was not a big partnership but had a great impact on India’s innings.
Cheteshwar Pujara hails Rohit Sharma:
“Both of us spoke about building a partnership and his plan was to take on the bowlers, which he did. He hit a few quick boundaries and suddenly there was a sense of panic in their bowling line-up. They were trying to figure out which length to bowl but they couldn’t bowl consistently because Rohit was taking them on.”
Pujara scored a gritty century in the first innings which helped India to put 250 on the board. Eventually, India went on to win the match by 31 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the series.