Veteran commentator Aakash Chopra said that India are missing Cheteshwar Pujara in their batting lineup in the longer format. He added that virtually all batters play aggressively, an approach that is unlikely to work always as well. However, Team India faced a 113-run defeat in the second Test against New Zealand in Pune on Saturday, October 26 as well.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel ‘Aakash Chopra’, he added, “Are we missing Pujara? It’s a big question actually. As a player, you might say that he would score these many runs and others would also score as many runs, so are you missing him that much? Maybe not, because at some stage you have to move beyond everyone. So you left Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane in such a scenario.”
ALSO READ: Hardik Pandya shares happiness after winning back the love of fans
“You got Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant started playing at No. 5. So things changed a lot. Change is the rule of nature but one thing is definitely missing. No one in this team is able to do what Cheteshwar Pujara used to do. Everyone plays the same brand of cricket, that they would attack and play aggressive cricket, and have nothing to do with a draw as they play like this only. That does not work,” Chopra further added.
In the same video, Aakash Chopra also said that India are missing Cheteshwar Pujara’s brand of ‘non-glamorous’ cricket as well.
ALSO READ: “Shubman’s captaincy is very good” – Ravi Bishnoi on Shubman Gill
“It will happen repeatedly in Test cricket that you will be asked to play a session where a wicket shouldn’t fall. You need to keep your head down and defend. There is a battle of attrition at times. Cheteshwar Pujara’s defensive cricket, that brand of cricket which is non-glamorous, hard-working, staying at the wicket from morning to evening, we are missing that brand of cricket, and we are repeatedly seeing the result of that in collapses. You need a guy to stand there to stop collapses even if the scoreboard moves or not. He keeps delaying the game. The bowlers get tired and the ball gets old and soft, and the others score runs. India are of course missing that game style of Pujara,” Aakash Chopra concluded.
