Ahead of the high-profile Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test series, Matthew Hayden has warned Australia that the Indian Test specialist and one of the key architects of India’s last historical Test series triumph Cheteshwar Pujara can really hurt the hosts once again.
Hayden, the former Australian batsman, has also lavished praise on Pujara saying the hosts will need a lot of caffeine to watch the latter’s bat in the upcoming four-match Test series starting with the first Day-Night Test at Adelaide Oval from December 17 (Thursday).
Last time, Pujara amassed 521 runs including three hundreds in the four-match Test series to help India script history two years ago as the tourists beat Australia 2-1 to clinch the memorable Test series.
Well now, Australia is all set for revenge and this time they will have their batting mainstays Steve Smith and David Warner (currently injured) for the upcoming Test series and they will have good chances retain the trophy since India will be without their key pacer Ishant Sharma for the entire series and captain Virat Kohli for the last three Tests.
While admitting that Pujara hurt the Australians badly on the last tour, Hayden impressed with the Indian batman that way he manages to stay on the wicket for long durations. Even, the cricketer has an excellent record against Australia, scored 1622 runs at 60.07 with a high score of 204 including five centuries – three of them on Australian soil in the 16 Tests so far.
While in the modern era, the strike-rates in Test cricket improved significantly, but Pujara still likes to bat in the classical model, wearing down bowlers and sapping them of their energies as he slowly builds his innings and former Aussie that his that technique can hurt the hosts this time again.
Hayden said on Star Sports’ GAME PLAN: “As you know Australians love to drink coffee, and we have decided to go on a little campaign to make sure we have plenty of caffeine when it comes to watching Pujara bat.”
He added, “But, you know what the reality is, he hurt us badly. We are of a generation now where we are admiring people for their stroke play, we are admiring people for their strike rate. Well, he is one of the few guys in Test cricket that have a strike rate of sub 45 and he can hurt you.”
Meanwhile, Pujara hasn’t played any Test since returning New Zealand tour but Sunil Gavaskar doesn’t feel it will make any difference since the veteran is a “mentally strong” batsman.
Gavaskar concluded, “Out of 20 days of Test cricket that we have ahead of us, we are really happy to have him bat for 15 days, there is no question about it. Whether he has played any cricket or not, I don’t think it’s going to make any difference because he is so strong mentally, that he will be.... he loves batting, he loves being at the crease, he loves wearing the bowlers down. In the last two years, he has also improved his strokes and range of shots.”
(With ANI Inputs)
