Sunil Gavaskar lashes out at team management

Cheteshwar Pujara didn't look convincing in the second Test and his dismissal in the first innings is questioned. The Saurashtra batsman is known for his calm and threatless cricketing shots but his attempted hook against Chris Woakes on a short ball, became his reason for demise. Surprisingly, it was moments before the lunch and Pujara himself was in disbelief after handing a simple catch to Adil Rashid.

It was very unusual from Pujara and cricketer-turned-commentator Sunil Gavaskar has criticised the team management for his dismissal.

In his column for the Times of India, Gavaskar wrote, “Pujara, whose mind has been messed up by being told about his scoring rate, went for a hook on the stroke of lunch and was caught at the deep square leg. That’s not his natural shot and just showed that when you try and tell a batsman to change his approach after he has got more than 4000 runs, it can be counter-productive. Pujara’s strength is occupying the crease so that batsmen at the other end can play their shots around him.”