‘He needed to be a bit more proactive’ – Ricky Ponting on Cheteshwar Pujara putting pressure on his batting partners

Ricky Ponting, the former Australian cricketer, reckons that Cheteshwar Pujara’s style of batting has been putting a lot of pressure on his partners. In the three Tests thus far in the Border Gavaskar Trophy, the Indian batsman has scored 113 runs at an average of 22.60. But it’s his strike-rate of 27.03, which has concerned Ponting and a few others as well.

On Saturday, January 9, during the tea break of Day 3 in India’s third Test against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground, Ponting decided to conduct an interaction Question-and-Answer session on his official Twitter handle. Keeping in mind his popularity, the veteran batsman was showered with questions. One of the fans asked him about Pujara’s style of batting.

Ponting opines on Cheteshwar Pujara

The fan asked him and wrote, “How do you rate Pujara’s initial batting- 16 of 100 balls at such a great surface to bat on? Is that a right approach here? “

Ponting replied to the fan and wrote, “I don’t think it was the right approach, I think he needed to be a bit more proactive with his scoring rate because I felt it was putting too much pressure on his batting partners.“

I don't think it was the right approach, I think he needed to be a bit more proactive with his scoring rate because I felt it was putting too much pressure on his batting partners https://t.co/2OhmdATvke

— Ricky Ponting AO (@RickyPonting) January 9, 2021

In the first innings of the SCG Test, Pujara put his head down in the initial phase of his knock. The right-hander scored 50 runs off 176 balls with the help of five fours. At the score of 13, the Aussies appealed for a bat-pad and even took the Decision Review System. However, going by pieces of evidence, Pujara survived and carried on with his knock.

He was the joint-highest top-scorer in India’s first innings along with Shubman Gill, who also got a fifty. On the back of their knocks, India managed 244 on the board, though they conceded a 96-run lead to the opposition after the Aussies racked up 338 runs on the board.

In Australia’s first innings, Steve Smith’s 27th Test century and Marnus Labuschagne’s 91 guided them to a formidable score. At the close of play on the third day, the hosts are leading by 197 runs with eight wickets left in their second innings. Smith and Labuschagne are in the middle for the home team.