India’s Test specialist Cheteshwar Pujara and his bad patch in the English conditions continue as on Monday he was dismissed without troubling scorers by Hampshire pacer Dale Steyn in the second semi-final of the Royal London One-Day Cup, England’s domestic 50-over competition.
Pujara, who came in to bat after the fall of opener Adam Lyth in the fourth over of the innings as Yorkshire chased a massive 349 for victory, lasted just four balls before Jimmy Adams accepted a simple catch at second slip off Steyn. This wasn’t just a single bad game for the Indian specialist as in the last five innings read 14 for Yorkshire against Derbyshire in the Royal London One-Day Cup, 19 against Lancashire, 6 against Northants, 35 against Afghanistan in the one-off Test and now a duck.
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He did start the one-day tournament well with scores of 82, 73, 101 and 75* but since then, its been a drought of runs for him. Pujara’s returns in the four-day games for Yorkshire this season have been forgettable for him as he amassed just 100 runs in 8 innings at an average of 12.50.
Dale Steyn is bowling scorchers 🔥 🔥 🔥
Cheteshwar Pujara goes for 0 having flown back in specifically for the match
Live ➡️ https://t.co/uYRriTqoHB pic.twitter.com/8GyNfftvsD
— One-Day Cup (@OneDayCup) June 18, 2018
Speaking to CricketNext before departing for the county season, Pujara said, “Playing county cricket means you prepare on wickets where every ball could be the last you face in an innings. The wickets are really challenging and I love challenges. County cricket has improved me as a player and I just want to score as many runs as possible for Yorkshire and prepare for the Test series against England and the road ahead. The challenges that shall be thrown at us — by James Anderson and boys — is not something we aren’t aware of. This stint in England shall help me prepare for that.”
Clearly, the stint hasn’t been as fruitful as Cheteshwar would have expected and he will be desperately eager to find some form before the Test series gets underway in Birmingham in a little over a month from now.
