Michael Vaughan explains why Cheteshwar Pujara reminds him of a former Pakistan skipper
Former England captain Michael Vaughan has spoken of one of Cheteshwar Pujara's traits reminding him of Inzamam-Ul-Haq. Although India wholly dominated the third day of the fourth Test against England at the Oval, Pujara's ankle niggle concerned the fans.
While running during his scintillating 153-run stand with Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara twisted his ankle at the non-striker's end. He received immediate attention and the physios heavily taped the batsman's ankle. As a result, the pain and discomfort went missing.
Speaking at the BBC Test Match Special, Michael Vaughan feels that Pujara might take time off the field due to the twisted ankle. The 46-year old feels fielding isn't too high a priority for the Saurashtra batsman and that Pujara's attitude seems reminiscent of Inzamam-Ul-Haq's in this way.
"From knowing Pujara a bit from his time at Yorkshire, he's a bit like me and I wouldn't say that fielding is high up on his list of priorities. It'll be an injury in that ankle that if there's any prospect of him taking a bit of time off the field, he will take it. There's a few around who used to be like that, Inzamam is one who comes to mind,"
Michael Vaughan also lamented England's lack of penetration on day three, picking up only three wickets. Vaughan thinks the bowling unit lacks variety and pace, failing to unsettle Pujara.
"It just feels that this England attack is very similar. It's a concern when the ball's not moving around that much as a batter you can't get used to it. Everything's almost the same pace. There isn't a go-to bowler to rough Pujara up,"
They haven't noticed the need to bowl more shorter deliveries: Michael Vaughan
Vaughan further expressed his surprise as England's bowlers failed to utilize their experience against Pujara and Rohit Sharma. He particularly aimed at Ollie Robinson for not bowling enough short deliveries to Sharma.
"I'm just staggered. There's so much experience in this England team, how they haven't noticed the need to bowl more shorter deliveries before now to both batsmen. I don't think I've seen Ollie Robinson bowl a single bouncer in this match yet, he's had Rohit out twice in this series with the short ball,"
Sharma and Pujara were the wreckers in chief on day three of the Oval Test, with the former making a hundred. Though Robinson removed them with the second new ball, India were comfortably ahead by the close. They currently have a lead of 171 with seven wickets remaining.