One week ago, if someone had said that Cheteshwar Pujara will be booed in India one would laugh and ask that person to check Pujara’s recent heroics in Australia. But the time turns so fast and he has booed by Chinnaswamy crowd after his sensational innings during the second semifinal of Ranji Trophy, which knocked Karnataka out of the tournament while Saurashtra confirmed their berth in the final against Vidarbha.
Such turn of event took place after Indian batsman opted not to walk off the pitch after umpiring error. He got lucky two times in as many innings. Both times Saiyed Khalid was the umpire who failed to spot an edge and gave his decision in Saurashtra’s favour.
Watch – Pujara refused to leave the pitch after edging ball to keeper
In the first essay, India’s number 3 was batting on 1 during his 45-run knock while the second innings mistake proved much costly for the bowling team as Pujara scored an unbeaten century to chase down 279-run target set by Karnatak and took his team through to the finals.
“Cheater” is the reception Saurashtra batsmen received after Pujara denied to walk after edging twice in two innings. Sayied Khalid, well done Sir. #KARvSAU pic.twitter.com/cNVa0Nd53B
— Thilak Ramamurthy (@Thilak_Rama) January 27, 2019
When he notched up his 49th first-class ton, rather than applauding, Chinnaswamy crowd was seen booing Pujara and was called ‘cheater’.
Following this dramatic match, a senior player said in a private conversation “He must do what is in his team’s best interests, we understand that. More than whether he should have walked or not, the focus should be on the standards of umpiring in domestic cricket, which have declined alarmingly.”
The 31-year-old enjoyed his time in Australia, where he scored mammoth 521 runs in India’s historic Test series win. He batted more than 31 hours and nullified every threat posed by Kangaroo bowling line-up.
Also Read: Pujara feels happy after winning Man of the Series award
Saurashtra was on the brink of defeat against Uttar Pradesh in the quarter-final of Ranji Trophy when a mountainous target of 372 was standing in front of them. But Saurashtra batsmen showed some grit and determination to climb that mountain and came out victorious by chasing the highest target in the history of Ranji Trophy. Now, they will play against Vidarbha in the final, which will commence from February 3 in Nagpur.
