'He was a real pain in the back for us' - Pat Cummins picks Cheteshwar Pujara as the toughest batsman to bowl
Pujara had scored 521 runs in 7 innings at an average of 74.42 against Australia in 2018-19 Test series.
Team India scripted history during their previous Australia tour by winning their first ever Test series down under. Though the hosts missed their best batsman in David Warner and Steve Smith, Australia possessed their best bowling attack comprising of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins. And to go past them in their soil is one of the toughest tasks for the visiting batsmen even now.
But the Indian batsmen blunted the bowlers with aplomb and leading the pack for the tourists was none other than Cheteshwar Pujara. It was one of his best series overseas as he pummelled 521 runs in just seven innings at an average of 74.42 with the best score of 193. More than anything, the way he frustrated the Aussie bowlers in tough conditions was brilliant and Cummins has admitted to the fact as well.
Recently, on Instagram, the pace bowler was asked to pick the toughest batsman he has bowled to thus far and he went with Pujara.
He was an absolute rock for India, says Pat Cummins
Pat Cummins, who is the World’s number 1 Test bowler, recalled the painstaking series for Australia in 2018-19 season which India won by 2-1. It was rather a closely fought contest between the two teams but the visitors dominated the second half of the series completely.
The 26-year-old mentioned that there are a lot of batsmen who are toughest to bowl at but picked Pujara as he troubled them a lot. He further said that India’s number three was an absolute rock for India and was really hard to get out once he was set. Pujara had four scores of above fifty in the series three of which were centuries.
“There are a lot of them out there unfortunately. But I am going to go with someone different and he is (Cheteshwar) Pujara from India. He was a real pain in the back for us. He was an absolute rock for them in that series. (He was) Really hard to get out. Just ultra concentration all day, day after the day. He is the hardest one in Test cricket so far I think,” Pat Cummins said.
Download Our App