Nathon Lyon has improved as a bowler in the last four-five years: Cheteshwar Pujara

One of the vital cogs of India’s batting line-up in the purest format of the game, Cheteshwar Pujara had a bad day at office during the first innings of the pink-ball Test against Australia at Adelaide Oval on Thursday. After facing 160 balls in the middle and scoring 43 runs, Pujara fell on the delivery by Nathan Lyon just before the tea break. This was the tenth time in the Test format that Lyon weaved his magic to dismiss India’s number three.

In a virtual press conference after the Day 1, Pujara was all praises for the Australian spinner Nathan Lyon, who is just nine wickets away from achieving the remarkable feat of scalping 400 wickets in Test cricket. The 32-year-old believes that over the past few years, Lyon has improved as a bowler and he now enjoys challenging the opposition batsman with variations in his length.

“Lyon has improved as a bowler in the last four-five years. He likes to bowl and he wants to bowl as many overs as possible. His line length is very good and has improved a lot, I feel,” he said during a virtual press conference. “That’s something that helps him and he likes taking the challenge and he is someone who enjoys his bowling. But as a batsman, I feel you got to be prepare and try and score as many runs possible,” he added.

Cheteshwar Pujara shares the experience of playing with the pink ball

Further in the interaction, the Gujarat-born also opined on his experience of playing with the pink ball for the first time outside India in Adelaide. Cheteshwar Pujara feels that the pitch at the Adelaide Oval isn’t flat where the batsman can keep scoring runs, instead it has a lot to offer to the fast bowlers and the batting side needs to spend time on the field to build some crucial partnerships.

“The more you play (against the) pink ball, you get used to it. But I feel there is enough in it for fast bowlers and the way they bowled we had to build a partnership. I don’t think it was a flat pitch where you can start playing your shots and keep scoring runs. So it’s a pitch where you need to give enough time as a batsman,” he further said.