'I can’t be a David Warner or Virender Sehwag' - Cheteshwar Pujara hits back at critics questioning his slow batting approach

Cheteshwar Pujara has been the mainstay of the Indian batting unit in Tests for the past few years. The No.3 batsman averages 48.7 in the format and has notched up 18 centuries. He has scored 5840 runs in 77 Tests so far.

Even if such amazing stats, Pujura is often questioned about his strike-rate. After scoring 66 runs off 237 balls in the recent Ranji Trophy final, the questions were raised again. Pujara opened up about the questions in an interview. The Saurashtra batsman helped his side to win the Ranji Trophy but the criticism regarding his slow batting approach might put him on the edge.

“I don’t think there is too much talk (on the inside). In media, it is described differently but the team management has been backing me on this completely. There is no pressure from the captain, coach or anyone else,” the 32-year-old batsman said about his strike rate as quoted by Hindustan Times.

Pujara also opened up that the team management had no issue with his strike-rate and he has currently no pressure whatsoever from the team management. The right-hander understands that his primary concern and job is to ensure that his side crosses the winning line every time. Hence, he is not perturbed about the criticism which he’s receiving about his batting style and approach.

“I just want to clarify that when it comes to strike-rate people start pointing towards team management’s take on it but there is no pressure on me at all. The team management understands my style of play and its importance.”

“The question that was asked on social media (during Ranji final) was ‘why am I taking so long to score X number of runs’? Whether I pay attention to that, no, I don’t. My job is to make sure that the team wins at all times,” Pujara during the interview.

‘Youngsters are not inclined towards Test format’: Cheteshwar Pujara

Pujara then talked about how his aims are set to score big for his side. “People expect big knocks from me. I always challenge myself to score a 100 but to average close to 50 in Tests means you are scoring a half-century almost every second innings. My standards are always high and I am not satisfied with the season that I had but I would not call it a bad one at all.”

Despite the longer format not attracting youngsters at present, Pujara feels that there’s nothing wrong in that because he feels that the real cricket is Test cricket. He feels that an individual is judged on the basis of his performances with the red-ball.

“I don’t think it is on the decline (the art of batting time). There is value for it. Maybe the youngsters are not inclined towards this format. It is a fact that there are more games in white-ball cricket. A youngster would want to play shorter formats because it is financially better,” Pujara points out why his style of batsmen are not found these days.

“There is nothing wrong with that but they should understand that real cricket is Test cricket and you will be judged only on the performances in the five-day game.”

Pujara finally concluded by saying how he won’t be able to bat like Virender Sehwag or David Warner as he believes in spending some time at the crease after taking guard. “I know I can’t be a David Warner or Virender Sehwag but if a normal batsman takes time there is nothing wrong in that,” said Pujara.