Kiran More bats for Cheteshwar Pujara’s cautious batting approach

Former Indian cricketer Kiran More came in support for Cheteshwar Pujara’s batting. Pujara has been facing a lot of heat from a few critics being tipped as a misfit in the new look Indian side. His conventional style of play wasn’t well digested. Such precarious was the situation that Pujara was made to sit out of starting eleven in one of the Tests in the Caribbean.

However, Pujara silenced all his critics by emerging as the leading run-getter in the New Zealand series. He amassed 373 runs at an average of 74.6 against New Zealand. He also hit a beautifully paced ton in the Indore Test. The uncharacteristic knock came at a much faster pace than his usual innings. Kiran More has now come in support of Pujara and commended him for adapting so well.

More rightly spotted the fact that the criticism around Pujara’s batting is unnecessary. He pointed out that facing the new ball is not easy. He also said that facing the new ball in Test cricket is a different ball game than doing the same in limited overs. He added that most players face that problem and hence it is unfair to target just Pujara. “There is a lot of unnecessary criticism about his batting. Facing the new ball when it is moving around is not easy (which Pujara has more often than not done, coming in at No. 3),” More quoted.

“It is much different from facing a 50-over old ball upfront. Why just Pujara? Any batsman would be a little cautious in their approach at that stage. He is too good a player to be facing such flak because of that,” he added further.

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Drawing comparisons with Sachin Tendulkar, Kiran More said that even the master batsman had to change his game over the years. More, who has been a national selector before, cited that he has seen Pujara come up the ranks in the age group stages. He affirmed that Pujara only plays to the merit of the ball and that is how it should always be.

“Even Sachin Tendulkar’s batting approach changed over the years. When he first came in, he used to bat very aggressively. But he mellowed down a lot and still played some excellent knocks for India. I have seen a lot of Pujara even as an age-group cricketer and all I can say is that he has always played according to the merit of the situation,” More conceded.