"Important not to let scoring opportunities go" - WV Raman wants Cheteshwar Pujara to be more positive in England

Former India batsman WV Raman feels that India’s Test No. 3 Cheteshwar Pujara can be a bit more positive with his strokeplay in England. According to Raman, if Pujara starts playing a few more shots, he can put the bowlers under pressure.

Cheteshwar Pujara was India’s hero during the team’s historic Test series win in Australia in 2018-19. Although he was not as prolific during India’s latest triumph in the same country earlier this year, he played a pivotal role by grinding down the opposition and holding one end up.

According to Raman, though, the approach is unlikely to yield success in England, where the ball swings and seams a lot more as compared to Australia. In an interview with Hindustan Times, Raman said about Cheteshwar Pujara’s approach:

“I think Cheteshwar Pujara perhaps can look at playing a few more shots. In England, you’ve got to make the best use of the scoring opportunities. Assuming this will again be a typical English summer, you will get very few scoring opportunities anyway. Cheteshwar likes to grind for long hours and then score. In that period, he might miss out on some scoring opportunities. You can get away with that in India, Australia, where there is not much swing and seam. But both happen a lot in England."

“In Australia, you will have bounce, you might have a bit of seam but in England, you will have to cope with all three at times. It is important not to let the scoring opportunities go. This not only gives him runs and builds his confidence but it also puts the bowler under pressure. It makes him think,” the former cricketer added.

Cheteshwar Pujara has a poor record in England. In nine Tests, he has scored 500 runs at an average of under 30 with a solitary century to his name. Overall, the Saurashtra-born batsman averages 46.59 from 85 Tests.

Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill and Cheteshwar Pujara in training 🤩🇮🇳📸 - Virat Kohli#WTCFinal #India #TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/PDN6c1Z7gM

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Cheteshwar Pujara can learn from how Indian batters tackled Shane Warne: WV Raman

When pointed out that playing more strokes would be against Cheteshwar Pujara’s natural game, Raman responded that by scoring some runs, the batsman can actually put the bowler on the backfoot. He elaborated:

“I’m not trying to say that he has to play against his character. He keeps it very simple. If he picks a bowler and decides that he has to play him out then he can do that quite easily and he does that quite often. But if he just tries to score some runs even against the best bowler then that will keep the bowler on his toes. He suddenly has to think about saving runs too, it’s not only about bowling over after over to Pujara and testing his resilience. The equation then changes slightly."

Referring to the aggressive manner in which the Indian batsmen tackled Aussie legend Shane Warne at his peak, Raman explained:

“That was perhaps one of the biggest differences between the Indian batters and others when they played Shane Warne. The moment he dropped it slightly short or got his line wrong, our players were ready to punish him. That’s why he perhaps did not have as much success against India as he did against South Africa in England. He did not have mental domination over India.”

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Cheteshwar Pujara will be a vital cog in India’s batting line-up in the World Test Championship (WTC) final against New Zealand as well as the five-match Test series versus England.