''I Had To Grip The Bat With Four Fingers, It Wasn’t Natural''- Cheteshwar Pujara

Cheteshwar Pujara’s dogged resistance and the unrelenting desire to occupy the crease for long periods of time to give his team an ideal platform to cash-on, was one of the major reasons behind Team India’s comeback for the ages post the 36 all-out in Adelaide.

Pujara braved hostile spells by the likes of Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood up until the last day of the series and was prepared to look ‘ugly’ in a bid to hold the batting-unit together.

However, as has been the case throughout his career, his strike-rate and ‘intent’ became the major talking point with former cricketers like Ricky Ponting criticizing the Indian No.3 for his ‘slow batting’ during the Sydney Test.

What the likes of Ricky Ponting and his critics didn’t know was that the champion batsman was battling with a finger injury he’d sustained during a practice session in Melbourne.

In a recent interview with Hindustan Times, Cheteshwar Pujara opened up on the same, revealing that he was gripping the bat with just four fingers after he was struck with multiple blows by the Aussie fast bowlers during his heroic 211-ball 56 on the final day of the Brisbane Test.

“I feel as a batter you know what suits your team, rather than what people see from the outside. You just have to trust your methods,” Cheteshwar Pujara said.
Also, with the finger injury it wasn’t easy for me to bat. I was in some pain. This happened during one of the practice sessions in Melbourne. When I was batting in Sydney and Brisbane, it wasn’t easy to grip the bat properly. When I got hit again at Brisbane, there was more pain. I had to grip the bat with four fingers. It wasn’t natural. Things still worked out pretty well,” he revealed.

Cheteshwar Pujara’s resilience and the bravery with which he coped multiple blows on his body and still continued to blunt the Australian attack was a true reflection of the fight that Team India displayed throughout the series.

The Indian No.3 opened up about his knock, stating that he had a clear plan of ensuring that he preserved his wicket and blunted the Australian pacers, especially Cummins and Hazlewood as the duo attacked him with the short-pitch ploy.

He also added that with the pitch showing variable bounce, he decided to put his body on the line as he felt that had he taken them on, he would have run the risk of either top-edging it or gloving it to the cordon, which would have been detrimental to the sides’ fortunes.

”There were many. It was expected, very normal. I have been hit many times on the body. My wife and daughter were a little concerned initially, but I told them that there was nothing serious. I had a clear game plan on day 5. I felt it was important for us not to lose too many wickets in the first session. If they had to be in the game, they had to pick wickets in the first session. It was the most crucial one,” he said.

They were coming really hard at us. We (Pujara and Shubman Gill) played really well in that session. I got hit many times, but my wicket was very important. If we had lost any crucial wickets in that session, then we would have been in trouble. We knew that there was variable bounce on that wicket. I got hit only from one end. From that particular end, it was difficult to judge the bounce. If you look at Australia’s second innings, most of their batters struggled, and we picked up wickets from that end. I faced most of the deliveries in that particular session from that end. I was just trying to bat that session out,” Pujara added.

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