Australia vs India 2018-19: Ravi Shastri Hails Cheteshwar Pujara For His Sensational Show in Australia

Indian National Cricket team head coach Ravi Shastri has heaped praise on Cheteshwar Pujara saying that if he had to pick a batsman to bat out an entire day and save a Test match for India, it would be Cheteshwar Pujara. Meanwhile, Virat Kohli & Co became the first Indian team to beat Australia at their backyard in the last 74 years.

Pujara played a colossal role in India’s victory scoring 521 runs at an average of 74 including three centuries. He played 1258 deliveries across the series to finish as the highest run-getter of the series. He scored a brilliant hundred in Adelaide to bail his side out which set the tone for India in the series. The visitors went on to win the Test and series eventually as Pujara finished with three centuries to his name.

Ravi Shastri said Pujara could focus for long periods and his preparations are meticulous. Shastri also lauded Pujara’s discipline, and for the way he played Nathan Lyon. Pujara had struggled on the last tour of Australia four years ago, but minor technical adjustments helped him fight back and play a key role in India’s victory.

“Absolutely fantastic. If you want a batsman to bat out a day in a Test match, to save the team you’d pick that guy. Once he gets in he smells leather… there is no messing around,” Shastri told to India Today.

“He is so focussed, he has understood his game so well, what are his strengths and what are the strengths he should be capitalising on. And he doesn’t barge from there. Nothing in the world can change his mindset there, his determination and his discipline in leaving balls, making the bowlers bowl at him.

And what he did in this series as opposed to the last time he came to Australia was the way he played Nathan Lyon. And if there was anything full-pitched outside the stumps, where he could get to the pitch, he would put that away to the boundary. It was magnificent batting.. good old Test match batting,” Shastri continues.

Cheteshwar Pujara is a lot different from a modern batsman

Pujara is very different from a lot of modern batsmen. In this age of T20 cricket, when batsmen look to attack, dominate and play those glamour shots, Pujara believes in wearing bowlers down before playing his shots. Ravi Shastri noted that Pujara has proved that one doesn’t have to be a flash hurry to be successful.

“He proved that you don’t have to be a Flash Harry to be successful. In this day and age when the bowlers are smart, with analysts studying your weaknesses, bowling attacks being more accurate… you have to earn your runs.

“You saw that with Virat Kohli in England and even with those two here. Pujara took it to another level when there would be days when he would be beaten once. You can imagine what a fast bowler must be thinking.. you could imagine what Pat Cummins or Josh Hazlewood must be thinking – ‘next morning you have again bowl to this guy‘,” Ravi Shastri concluded.