Cheteshwar Pujara Is Trying To Bat Like Someone Else, Opines Deep Dasgupta

Former India wicketkeeper Deep Dasgupta thinks that Indian batsman Cheteshwar Pujara is trying to bat like someone else and not playing his natural game.

For the last few months, Pujara is under extreme pressure to score big runs and many have criticized him for not scoring in a paced manner and wasting balls unnecessarily.

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Cheteshwar Pujara is trying to bat like someone else: Deep Dasgupta

Pujara’s struggles with getting enough runs continued on the first day of the second Test at Lord’s as he was dismissed by James Anderson for nine runs. This was the second time in as many innings he became prey to England‘s pace bowler. Dasgupta expressed his concern about the batsman trying to adopt a new approach in his gameplay.

“He is trying to bat like someone else. He has played 87 Test matches the way he has so far. And suddenly after 87 Test matches, it’s very difficult to teach an old hag a new trick. And that’s what he is trying to do and that’s a concern for me. Let’s just leave him alone, the way he bats. If he is not getting runs, that’s an issue, not his strike rate,” Dasgupta was quoted as saying on BBC’s Test Match Special. 

Cheteshwar Pujara seems to be pushing at everything: Deep Dasgupta

Dasgupta feels that Pujara is trying to push himself unnecessarily and said that his strike rate barely matters in Test cricket while observing his technique, using the soft hands very well to control the movement of the ball.

“He (Cheteshwar Pujara) seems to be pushing at everything. And that’s not him. I mean, at his peak as well, he wasn’t striking at a very high rate. The strike rate is not his issue. But, it seems that he is thinking about it. And that’s where he is getting into this really, really bad place now. And not just that, there was just one delivery where there was a dead defence. Apart from that, everything else, there was a push from him, and that’s just not him,” Dasgupta said. 

“If you look at Pujara and when he is batting really well, you would see soft hands and even if you see those edges, chances are that they won’t carry to the slip. But right through the innings, small as it was, it seemed like he was pushing at almost everything.”

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Cheteshwar Pujara has been struggling to find the middle of his bat for a long time now. His last half-century came when India toured Australia earlier this year and since then, he has struggled quite a bit.