Cheteshwar Pujara, who had been going through a rough patch for quite some time in Test cricket, produced an impressive outing in the closing hours of Day 2 as he scored at a brisk pace in the second innings. His unbeaten 35 came off just 42 deliveries and former Pakistan captain Salman Butt noticed a pattern in India no.3’s batting approach.
“I noticed this one thing (about Pujara). He was under pressure in the England tour as well and he played a very positive innings, similar to the one he played today. Whenever he is under pressure, he plays positive and plays his shot. I don’t understand why he goes back into his blocking mode then. He needs to think about his approach,” Butt said.
“Whenever he is under pressure, he starts playing freely. When there are fears that he might be dropped from the XI, he starts playing his shots. He gets the crucial runs with a good tempo. You saw that in England as well, when he failed in 4-5 innings, he played an 80-90 run knock (91 in second innings in Leeds Test) at a decent strike rate,” Butt said on his official YouTube channel.
