Opinion

Never seen Pujara batting like the way he did on Day 3: Ashish Nehra

Written by Rohit Pawar

Former India pacer Ashish Nehra heaped rich praise on Cheteshwar Pujara, saying he has never seen Pujara bat the way he did in the second innings of the third Test against England. Nehra pointed out that Pujara displayed a positive mindset and his game was different.

Nehra further said that he hopes that Pujara was not under pressure regarding his performance, and his gritty knock on Day 3 was a result of his own thought process. Pujara orchestrated India’s spirited resistance with an unbeaten career-reviving 91 while adding 82 runs with Rohit Sharma and 99 with Virat Kohli to steer India to 215-2 when bad light stopped the third day’s play.

“The way Pujara batted today, I’ve never seen him doing something like that before. He had a positive mindset and his gameplay is completely different. I hope he wasn’t under any kind of pressure related to his performance. I believe, it was his own thought process that I’d play this way today,” Ashish Nehra told Sony Sports Network.

“People say Pujara plays slow. It’s not about 5-10 Test matches. He has played around 90 games for India and has 6000 runs to his credit. You have achieved success with this batting style. Just leave what people are talking about, if he continues to play with the mindset he had today, you would witness a completely different Pujara,” he added.

“It’s a possibility that India can bat for the entire fourth day, take a 100-150 lead and put the pressure back on England. The way the pitch has behaved this far, winning isn’t easy but you need to cross those little milestones to stay there,” Nehra said.

About the author

Rohit Pawar

An Independent I.T. Security Expert, Geek, Blogger & Passionate Programmer.