I Couldn't Sleep Well For The Next Couple Of Days - Cheteshwar Pujara On Aftermath Of Gabba Bruises
Indian batter Cheteshwar Pujara revealed that he had trouble sleeping on one side having taken body blows on Day 5 of the famous Gabba Test in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2020-21 series against Australia.
Pujara was fending off deliveries against the likes of Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins on a bouncy surface at the Gabba. The pressure was also on him as he had to hold down the fort at one end while letting the batter at the other end take on the bowlers.
“I could not sleep well for the next couple of days. The pain was so much that I could not sleep on my left side. I kept playing on with a fracture in my index finger. When you are doing a job for the country, you forget the pain. But you realize that later,” Pujara said in an Instagram live session with Voot.
Pujara first stitched a partnership with Shubman Gill, who scored 91, before partnering with Rishabh Pant. The target of 329 was still far away but Pant ended up carrying his bat through and finished the match off with a boundary.
“Cheteshwar Pujara was standing like The Rock of Gibraltar” – Ravichandran Ashwin
Pujara’s teammate, Ravichandran Ashwin was part of a heroic draw in the Sydney Test but the injury he sustained there kept him out of the final Test. As a result, Ashwin was left to watch on the sidelines as Pujara fought through it all.
“One moment that was really inspirational happened in the Gabba. Even though I was not playing the Gabba Test, I could see Cheteshwar Pujara getting hit, taking those body blows and standing like The Rock of Gibraltar. He was intentionally getting hit for the right cause,” Ashwin said.
