"Cheteshwar Pujara is playing inside the line and making the balls look good" - Sanjay Manjrekar
Former Indian batsman Sanjay Manjrekar has said that Cheteshwar Pujara's penchant for playing inside the line has made it seem that he has been dismissed off unplayable deliveries, which is actually not the case.
Cheteshwar Pujara was dismissed caught behind by Tim Paine off Josh Hazlewood' on the third day of the ongoing Brisbane Test. That was another in a series of such dismissals the Indian batting mainstay has endured against Pat Cummins and Hazlewood during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
The India number three has found it difficult to face deliveries angled in from wide of the crease and seaming away after pitching. He was bowled by Hazlewood in the second innings of the Sydney Test after the ball beat his outside edge.
During a discussion on the Sony Sports network, Sanjay Manjrekar and Zaheer Khan shared their views on the technical issues afflicting Cheteshwar Pujara.
Manjrekar pointed out that the Saurashtra batsman has got bowled through the gate quite often in the last few years and has probably worked on rectifying that issue.
"There is a history to whatever is happening currently. If you remember, Pujara was getting bowled in the last 3-4 years. So, somewhere or the other, he would have felt that he should tighten up his defence. So, I feel to do that correction, he has got into the habit of playing inside the line," said Manjrekar.
Sanjay Manjrekar highlighted that Cheteshwar Pujara's tendency of playing inside the line of deliveries to avoid getting bowled has got him into trouble. Manjrekar said that Rohit Sharma has comfortably negotiated similar deliveries, saying in this regard:
"The same deliveries were bowled to Rohit Sharma when he faced the new ball. So, Pujara has to just see how he was playing those deliveries. It is clear to me that he is playing inside the line and making the balls look good. It is not that all balls are unplayable. And the deliveries are not even outside off-stump; he is edging deliveries on off-stump and middle-stump."
"Cheteshwar Pujara will go back and try to figure out the problem" - Zaheer Khan
Zaheer Khan was asked if Cheteshwar Pujara is likely to face similar issues while playing at home against England.
The former Indian pacer responded that the dogged batsman would go back home and try to rectify this technical deficiency, as such changes cannot be done in the middle of a series.
"His speciality is that now when there is a break, he will go back and prepare that he has got dismissed like this and try to figure out the problem. It is difficult to make a big change during a series. He has made this change also because he had got dismissed that way earlier," observed Zaheer Khan.
Zaheer Khan expressed optimism about Cheteshwar Pujara resolving this glitch by putting in the hard yards in the nets.
"So, in the next series, you will see a change again. I know he does a lot of repetitions. He has the habit of playing a lot of deliveries, and he has adjusted his body also like that. I feel he will go back and do a lot of throwdowns and nets," added Khan.
Sanjay Manjrekar hopes that Cheteshwar Pujara's previous issue of getting bowled through the gate does not resurface while he tries to rectify his present problem.
Barring his first dismissal in the series to Nathan Lyon, Cheteshwar Pujara has fallen prey to either Pat Cummins (four times) or Josh Hazlewood (twice). He has been caught off the outside edge on five of these occasions and bowled while playing inside the line of the ball the other time.
Cheteshwar Pujara will hope to resolve this issue and get back to big-scoring ways before the Test series against England commences.