Revealed: Why Cheteshwar Pujara Batted For Both India & Leicestershire In 4-day Warm-up Match

Veteran India National Cricket Team batter Cheteshwar Pujara batted for both India and Leicestershire in the 4-day warm-up match ahead of the one-off Test against England, which left many fans stunned.

The warm-up match is being played at the Grace Road, Leicester and the match between Rohit Sharma-led India and Sam Evans-led Leicestershire commenced on June 23.

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Notably, Prasidh Krishna, Jasprit Bumrah, Cheteshwar Pujara and Rishabh Pant were put in the Leicestershire playing XI in the warm-up game and later on, three Indian net bowlers – Navdeep Saini, R Sai Kishore and Kamlesh Nagarkoti – also bowled for Leicestershire in the second innings.

Batting first, the Rohit Sharma-led side were able to score 246 runs at the loss of 8 wickets before declaring the innings. Wicketkeeper-batsman Srikar Bharat top-scored for the Rohit Sharma-led side as he scored 70 runs.

On Day 2 of the warm-up match, Pujara came out to bat after the dismissal of Leicestershire skipper Sam Evans. The 34-year-old batter Pujara was unable to survive for very long as he was cleaned up by Shami for a 6-ball duck.

Leicestershire were able to score 244 runs in their first innings and wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant top-scored for the side with 76 runs in his bag.

Here’s The Reason Behind Cheteshwar Pujara Batting For Both The Teams

The Rohit Sharma-led side made many changes to their batting order in their second innings as Shubman Gill opened the innings with Srikar Bharat instead of skipper Rohit.

Also, former all-format captain, Virat Kohli walked out to bat at number seven instead of his usual number four spot

Meanwhile, Cheteshwar Pujara came out to bat at No.8 for India after the dismissal of bowling all-rounder Shardul Thakur. Pujara walking out to bat for India after batting for Leicestershire in their first innings surprised many fans.

The real reason behind Pujara batting for both the teams is that the warm-up match between India and Leicestershire is not an official first-class game and both teams have had a mutual agreement on the playing conditions.

Pujara didn’t get the opportunity to spend time at the crease in the first innings of Leicestershire after being dismissed for a duck, so Indian management decided to give him a chance to spend time out in middle.

Meanwhile, the 5th and last Test match of the series between India and England, which was cancelled last year, will be played at the Edgbaston, Birmingham from Friday, July 1. Also, India are leading by 2-1 in the series.

Pujara made a comeback to the Indian Test team after his outstanding performance for Sussex as he scored 720 runs in just 5 matches. Notably, he was dropped from the Indian Test side ahead of the two-match Test series against Sri Lanka at home.

Also Read: IND vs ENG: India’s X Factor Is Rishabh Pant: Sanjay 

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