India’s No.3 Says No Regrets Adopting A Precautionary Strategy First At The Start Of The Day
India has abandoned a dominant position thanks to the late collapse, which began with the departure of Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara said, but believes they still have a good chance of scoring a towering total in the first innings of the first. Proof.
India had weathered a tough interrogation of a lingering attack on a slightly slow and bouncing surface and had gone 188 of 3 with the new ball just around the corner. The fact that there were only 188 in nearly 80 overs tells you that they were forced to work hard to keep the grounds in hand, but now they were in a position to prepare for a score of over 325 if they could get through the day without too much else. lost.
This was an especially dominant position because India has not lost a single event in which Kohli has won the draw, which tells him the power of his players once there is a decent score on the board. They were now one session or so away from that decent score when Rahane called up Kohli for a quick single.
This time, however, Rahane had hit him too well and too close to Josh Hazlewood midfield. The ball was so close to the fielder that Rahane would have had trouble gaining ground even if he had tried to sacrifice himself for Kohli, who looked ready for his first 100 international of the year. Shortly after the run-out, Rahane and Hanuma Vihari fell to the new ball, but R Ashwin and Wriddhiman added 27 unbeaten for the seventh wickets to leave India balanced at 233 of 7 at the end of the day of play.
“I don’t think you can have a strategy like that where you just want to score in the first two sessions when the ball is swinging … As for strategy, I don’t think there is any regret for how we hit today.”CHETESHWAR PUJARA
“Yes, I would say we were in a very good position,” Pujara said of the events. “After losing a couple of wickets, Virat, Ajinkya both, I think those were crucial wickets. But I still feel like we’re only six down and Ash can hit, Wriddhi can hit. Even our lower order will try to contribute as many runs as So We still have a very good chance to get closer to 275-300, and if our bottom order hits well, you never know, we may get 350 as well.
“So yeah, I mean there was a stage where we were in a dominant position, but after losing Virat and Ajinkya, [Australia] have a little head start. I still feel that we are in an even position in this test match. “
Pujara acknowledged that it was difficult work to get to that position, which featured a stamina of 68 runs between him and Kohli that spanned 31.3 tough overs. He would have liked to see India take advantage of that platform, as hitting had started to look easier when he was the third man out.
“When you have a great association, if it’s more than 50 runs or if it’s close to 100 runs, you always establish a platform for the other hitters to put the team in a commanding position,” Pujara said. “And that’s what actually happened. When I had the partnership with Virat and then Ajinkya came in, they were both sailing. There was a time when we were 190 times 3, so I felt like that was the position we wanted to be in.
“But this is what test cricket is all about. When you lose a couple of wickets, the opposition has a bit of an advantage. But again, if we score runs tomorrow morning, we will be in a dominant position. So you have to respect this format. “
India had surpassed him by close to 80 overs, but because Australia had managed to control running speed, they came back the moment they got a wicket. Pujara was asked if they could have hit faster, but he said the conditions and the bowling alley could have meant the loss of too much ground.
“We were in a very good position, so I don’t think you can have a strategy like that where you only want to score in the first two sessions when the ball is swinging,” Pujara said. “I just thought that if we had more ground in hand, even when they took the second new ball, we would have gotten enough runs. Strategy-wise, I don’t think there’s any regrets for how we hit today. I thought it was a great cricket day. There’s enough for the bowlers. You just have to respect it instead of just chasing down the bowlers and losing more ground in the first two sessions and you end up getting knocked out in one day. “
Sidharth Monga is assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo
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