Cheteshwar Pujara's batting approach has been under the scanner for some time now.
In the WTC final, Pujara scored 8 off 54 balls in the first innings and followed it with 15 off 80 balls in the second essay. The right-hander had also received criticism from the fans and pundits for his turtle-paced approach during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2020-21.
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Ahead of the five-Test series against England, however, legendary Sunil Gavaskar has come out in defence of India’s No. 3 batter, saying Pujara’s method has worked for him and India in the past.
“Pujara has got to the international level playing in a certain way, he has got to trust that method. In case, the team doesn’t trust that method, then they have to maybe look at bringing somebody else in,” Gavaskar said during a virtual con-call on Monday (August 2), as quoted by PTI.
“But this is a method that’s worked for him, worked for India. He has held the fort at one end while the stroke-players at the other end have been at liberty to play their shots knowing that there is a solid player at one end.
“I think he’s got to believe in himself and carry on playing as he knows best because he has done a fantastic job for India over the years,” he added.
With Mayank Agarwal being ruled out of the first Test after taking a blow on his helmet, Gavaskar backed KL Rahul to open the innings alongside the veteran Rohit Sharma.
“I think with KL Rahul scoring a hundred in the three-day game, he should be the person that they should consider to open the batting. Mayank Agarwal has had an outstanding season in 2019 but the last tour to Australia, he struggled a bit,” Gavaskar said.
“Whereas with a hundred under his belt, I think Rahul will have lots of confidence. He is the person I would look at opening the batting, not having Pujara going up the order.
“Also, don’t forget, the last Test match that Rahul played in England (in 2018), he got a hundred at The Oval. With that in mind, it might be a good idea to look at Rahul as an opener ahead of Mayank,” explained the former opener.
The 72-year-old preferred the aggressive Rishabh Pant over Wriddhiman Saha as a wicketkeeper-batsman for the England Test series.
“It depends on your combination. If you are going to go in with five batsmen and a wicket-keeper, then I think you would look at somebody like a Rishabh Pant.
“Also, it depends on where you play, if you are playing for example, in India where the ball turns a lot more, so more of the wicket-keeping skills are required, then you would look to go in for somebody as outstanding as Wriddhiman Saha,” said Gavaskar.
“But otherwise, if you are looking at playing in England, where the wicketkeeper has to stand back and collect the deliveries against most of the pacers, then I would still go in for somebody like Rishabh Pant,” he added.
The batting great also predicted India’s series victory by a 4-0 or 3-1 margin, depending on the weather.
“My prediction is, if again this time I am making it contingent (on) to the weather… if the hot conditions are there, hot conditions are there for 22 out of possible 25 days, then I think India will win 4-0.
“In case you have a situation where the weather is going to be a factor, then I think India will win 3-1, but I think India will still go on to win, because England is now a very depleted side, and their batting, as we saw in the series against New Zealand, is being brittle,” he noted.
(With PTI inputs)