Ravi Shastri Insulted Cheteshwar Pujara In No Holds Barred Statement: For the second straight day, the Indian players disappointed the fans with their performance in the ongoing World Test Championship Final 2023. While on Day 1, the Indian bowlers failed miserably, on Day 2, the batters failed to live up to the expectations of the fans.
Once again, in a must-win ICC final clash, India’s top-order collapsed with Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, and Virat Kohli failing to deliver when it was needed them the most. Not even one of the top-fours was able to cross the 20-run mark.
Despite some middle-order repairs by Ravindra Jadeja and Ajinkya Rahane, team India still has a long way to go. India is trailing Australia by a massive 318 runs with three days to go.
While Australian bowlers deserve all the credit for their sensational performance in the high-voltage clash, however, the wickets of Shubman Gill and Cheteshwar Pujara were simply owed to some woeful shot selection. Both the batters were dismissed in the same style, shouldering arms and watching the ball bend back to hit the stumps.
Ravi Shastri Slammed cheteshwar Pujara
Pujara’s dismissal was even more disappointing as he is known to be someone who knows where his off-stump is. Not just this, Pujara has scored truckloads of runs at the same pitch, while he was playing for Surrey in County Championship over the last two years.
Meanwhile, former Indian head coach Ravi Shastri opined that Gill making the mistake is understandable but to see someone who has played 100 Test matches not knowing where his off stump is a huge dejection in itself. He said:
“That is leaving it poorly because the front foot has just gone across. It should be going towards the ball; he was looking to play it and then decided whether he should leave it. You see, the way he is leaving it, the off-stump is exposed. The front foot is still middle stump when it’s actually going towards off stump. Watch that front foot. It should be further across and towards the ball. He thought it was outside the off stump. It was an error in judgment,”
He added:
“We talk about leaving the ball in England and we always talk about knowing where your off stump is. This is not knowing where your off stump is. See, Shubman Gill being a little lazy with his footwork. He will learn; he is still young, but Pujara will be very disappointing seeing that. It should have been a little further towards the ball and across the line of the ball. That’s why they keep telling you – know where your off stump is,”
