'Stop riding a Luna and get on a Harley-Davidson': Sridhar recalls Shastri sending a message to Pujara for his slow batting

Sridhar revealed the incident from Visakhapatnam Test between India and South Africa in October 2019.

Cheteshwar Pujara | GettyFormer India fielding coach R Sridhar recently released a book titled 'Coaching Beyond: My Days with the Indian Cricket Team'.

The book is filled with plenty of fascinating anecdotes and startling revelations, which gives the fans a sneak peek into the Indian dressing room.

In his book, Sridhar also shared an interesting story involving former India head coach Ravi Shastri and Test specialist Cheteshwar Pujara.

Sridhar revealed that Pujara's slow approach during a Test match between India and South Africa in 2019 frustrated Shastri so much that the head coach ended up sending a message to the right-hander through a substitute fielder.

"Virat and Ravi wanted Pujara to score faster and the reason was because they were sure he had the skill set to do it. It was a question of convincing him that he could do so at international level. If he needed bollocking occasionally, Ravi was happy to oblige, like in Visakhapatnam in October 2019," Sridhar wrote in his book.

In that Test match, Pujara was stuck on 8 off 61 balls at one point in India’s second essay while opener Rohit Sharma slammed attacking centuries in both innings.

"We were looking for quick runs in the second innings so that we could stick South Africa back in. Rohit Sharma, who had got a 100 in the first innings, was again flowing, but Pujara got stuck. At one stage he was 8 off 61 deliveries when Ravi decided he had seen enough. So he called one of the substitute fielder and instructed him to repeat his message to Pujara verbatim, 'Stop riding a Luna and get on a Harley-Davidson'. There was a passage of play just after that where Pujara actually outscored Rohit. He had the capacity; it was important to ensure his thoughts were always aligned to that of the team and to make him realise that he had the tools to do so," Sridhar added.

 
 

By Salman Anjum - 04 Feb, 2023

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