'Questions will be raised now' - Twitter reacts to Cheteshwar Pujara's series of failures

Several questions were asked on Cheteshwar Pujara’s place in the Indian Test team ahead of the five-match Test series against England. And those questions will only increase given the way he has started the series. The Saurashtra batter came out to bat after lunch and found himself back in the dressing room quite early. 

The right-handed batter was once given out during his short stay at the crease. He was given LBW out of the bowling of Ollie Robinson, but DRS saved him. In the replay, it was seen that the trajectory of the ball would be missing the bails. However, the good luck for the batter didn’t last for too long as James Anderson soon managed to get him out. 

One could call it the classic Pujara dismissal. The ball pitched and moved just a little bit, enough to just kiss the edge of Pujara’s bat. The experienced batter played all over the ball as his feet didn’t move towards the ball instead sideways. The ball was then caught by Jos Buttler as he went out after making just four runs. 

Pujara falls again as India slip from 97 for 0 to 112 for 4

The problem with Pujara’s form has existed for a long time now. Despite getting a couple of good knocks during the Australian tour, Pujara hasn’t really been in his top form for some time now. His last century came in January 2019 and he hasn’t been in his best form since then. This year, he has been averaging 28 with the bat while in 2020, it was 20 across four Tests. 

In these two years, he has made only five scores of fifty-plus in 21 innings. At no. 3, Pujara has been a force to reckon with, but it seems that some serious questions will be asked about his presence in this team after this knock. Having said that, to make things worse, Virat Kohli was dismissed for a golden duck after Pujara’s dismissal. 

There were a few fans on Twitter, who also had an opinion about Pujara and his recent struggles with the bat. The time might not be too far when Pujara might find himself on the benches if he fails to score big runs during the course of this series. At the time of writing this, India was at 125 for 4 after bad light stopped play in Nottingham. 

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