"It affected him psychologically": Cheteshwar Pujara reveals how he tormented David Warner with sledging

India batter Cheteshwar Pujara has opened up about how he used to sledge the former Australia opener David Warner when the two were playing together. Pujara and Warner have been involved in various Test matches, mostly in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Both the players have given some world-class performances for their respective teams over the years. While showing their skills with the bat, both haven't looked back from being involved in pulling each other's leg as well.

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Cheteshwar Pujara breaks silence on sledging David Warner

While speaking to Star Sports, Cheteshwar Pujara narrated an incident in which he sledged David Warner throughout his career. Pujara revealed that it was Warner who started the sledging by taking a dig at him when he was carrying the drinks during a Test series in Australia.

"When I wasn't in the Playing XI in 2014-15 (Border-Gavaskar Trophy) and was carrying drinks, he came into the field and said that you look good carrying the drinks," Pujara said.

Pujara didn't look back and opened up about how he sledged Warner every time both of them came in front of each other. The India batter revealed how he used Ravichandran Ashwin's action to sledge Warner and it actually worked.

"After that, our conversation started and I reminded him every time and did something like this (Pujara does an offspinner's action through his fingers because Warner had been dismissed by Ashwin numerous times)," Pujara explained.

"I even told the bowlers that you just show this offspinner's action and he will get out. I wanted to play the psychological game on him. Then, I also spoke to him at short leg but I won't elaborate on that discussion here," he added.

This side of @cheteshwar1 😁🤌

Pujara taking on @davidwarner31 with mind games is something you wouldn't wanna miss! 😁#AUSvINDOnStar 👉 3rd Test, Day 1, LIVE NOW! | #ToughestRivalry #BorderGavaskarTrophy #AdityaBirlaGroup #CricketLive pic.twitter.com/dCC7UitIMY

— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) December 14, 2024

"It affected him psychologically" - Cheteshwar Pujara on sledging David Warner

Cheteshwar Pujara further elaborated that he continued these actions even when David Warner used to visit India. According to him, the former Australia batter even changed his path after seeing Pujara on the way.

"After that incident, whenever David Warner visited India, I was always reminding him that you get out to Ashwin a lot of times and it affected him psychologically."

"There were a few occasions when we were travelling together and I used to encounter David Warner. I used to have so many conversations with David Warner that he went the other side after seeing my face and didn't appear in front of me even when we were travelling together," Pujara concluded.

David Warner's poor record against Ravichandran Ashwin

David Warner had a dismal record against Ravichandran Ashwin in Test cricket. Ashwin has dismissed Warner 11 times in the 32 Tests these two players have played against each other. Warner has an average of 21.81 against Ashwin in Test cricket.

Cheteshwar Pujara is currently out of the Indian team due to poor form. However, he played a key role with the bat in India's historic Test series wins in Australia on the previous two occasions.

In the 2018-19 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Pujara was the highest run-getter of the series with 521 runs in 4 Tests at an average of 74.42 with 3 hundreds and 1 fifty. Meanwhile, he scored 271 runs at an average of 33.87 in the 2020-21 Test series in Australia and finished fourth on the list of highest run-getters.