Cheteshwar Pujara’s inputs invaluable for team, says Sunil Gavaskar

PTI

Portsmouth, May 31

Former captain Sunil Gavaskar today said that Cheteshwar Pujara could provide valuable insights to his Indian teammates ahead of the World Test Championship final against Australia, having played extensively in the County Championship. With Pujara’s knowledge and captaincy experience at Sussex, his inputs could prove invaluable, especially against Australian batter Steve Smith, who is also a part of his county side. The WTC final is scheduled to be held at The Oval in London on June 7-11.

“The fact that he has been around will mean that he will have also seen how the pitch has been behaving at The Oval,” Gavaskar said.

“He might not have played at The Oval, he might be in Sussex not too far away from London but he will have kept an eye on what is happening and his inputs will be invaluable as far as the batting unit is concerned or even as far as the captaincy is concerned. …don’t forget he has also been captaining the team, so he definitely will have worked out quite a few strategies seeing that Steve Smith is his teammate at the moment,” he added.

Playing late

Gavaskar also said the Indian batters, coming from the IPL, will have to adjust their bat speed, advising them to play as late as possible. “I think they are going to look at their bat speed. Coming from T20 where the bat speed is very fast to Test cricket where the bat speed has got to be a lot more controlled, that is something they’ll need to do,” Gavaskar said.

“They’ll need to play in England as late as possible to allow for the swing to do its bit, and not reach out for the ball, a mistake often people make having played on good pitches. Wherever you play on good pitches, you tend to play through the line, not necessarily half volleys. But in England those deliveries can move just that little bit. So, I think those are the things that as a batter you need to watch out for,” he added.

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