Cheteshwar Pujara: Rebuilding his path

For years, Cheteshwar Pujara has been viewed as the one who can fit into the void left in the Indian batting lineup by the retirement of the greats of yesteryears. He has surely been deemed as a reliable future in Tests for India. However, the journey so far hasn’t been easy for him.

While he began his ride in an emphatic fashion with loads of runs at home and also a brilliant swashbuckling century in South Africa, like every roller coaster, his ride took a low as he suffered for a prolonged patch when playing overseas. He had an unforgettable tour of England where he crossed fifty just once in ten innings. He went on to be dropped until last year where he displayed his versatility to comeback with a great knock in Sri Lanka. Since then Pujara has failed to keep up with the expectations.

Walking on to bat in the last session of Day 1, with the platform created by the openers, Pujara’s priority was to stay on the crease and make sure India didn’t lose any wicket for the remainder of the day. He looked rock solid in his approach as India ended the day without any further hiccups and he stayed afloat at 18* (57 balls).

On Day 2 his approach looked a little hesitant. With the deficit being paltry and batsmen in the hut, of course, he didn’t have to do anything extraordinary. However, he was found struggling to get back into his rhythm. Moreover, he took 34 balls to get off the mark on Day 2 though the situations were more batting friendly.

Stats and records – West Indies v India 2nd Test, Day 2 – Statistical Highlights

While the dot balls didn’t mount any kind of pressure on him, he couldn’t get the scorecard ticking. Not being able to rotate the strike kept him at one and almost tied. He went into the shell of defence but was not able to break out of it. That hindered his natural flow of shots. Considering the mediocre West Indian bowling attack, he looked more of trying to hold back himself which didn’t do anything great to his confidence. He kept leaving the balls standing resolute in defence.

In the end, after doing all the hard work and building an innings, he got run out in a dismal manner which wasn’t quite a splendid sight. With a strike rate of less than 30, having played 159 balls for his 46 runs, Pujara walked back disheartened as unable to determine his sheer prominence.

There can be an argument to this that since he has been a one format feature for India i.e. in Tests and has been out of cricket since the last Ranji season, he was looking to find some space. Also, with Lokesh Rahul having scored heavily in his first game, there might be a lot at stake for him considering that Pujara has to establish himself as an integral part of him with the elongated home season full of Tests approaching.

It would be sad to see a potential like him becoming a push off and being dropped from the Test squad. It will be interesting to see whether the team management decides to persist with him once Murali Vijay returns. A batsman of his audacity surely deserves one more chance to prove his capability and with a batting average of 47 which is the highest among the current lineup, Pujara can be a reckoning force to deal with, once he regains his confidence. And all it takes is one good innings to swing the momentum back!

Also read – Sean Williams conquers flu with the fastest Test ton by a Zimbabwean