Cheteshwar Pujara led India’s fightback with an unbeaten 91 in the second innings of the third Test played at Headingley, Leeds. The knock came off 180 balls and included 15 fours. His innings helped India reach 215/2, still trailing the hosts by 139 runs at the end of the third day.
Former India batsman Aakash Chopra praised Pujara for playing positively and getting close to his former best. He also lauded the batsman to have put the bad balls away to the fence.
“This is the Cheteshwar Pujara we always knew, who plays strokes and is hitting the balls that deserve to be hit. Sometimes your strength puts shackles on your legs. Cheteshwar's strength is his defence and patience, that he can play the entire day and he has a rock-solid defence,” Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube channel.
The former cricketer added that India’s No. 3 batsman played in contrast to the dogged innings Pujara was playing in the last couple of years.
"In the last two-and-a-half years we have seen him play in just the one fashion. Even if the runs were not coming he said that those are his two strongest facets and he will go with them. He played some valuable knocks, you can see the last match or Brisbane or Sydney, he did that numerous times but the century did not come,” he added.
Pujara reached his 50 of just 91 balls. This is now his fastest half-century outside Asia.
