‘Too many shots in the first 15-20 overs’- Cheteshwar Pujara dissects India’s poor underwhelming batting performance in the 2nd BGT Test

India has not performed well in the current Adelaide Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024–25, especially when it comes to their batting. As of Stumps on the second day, they are behind by 29 runs and have already sent five batters back to the shed due to their lack of effort. They would have hoped for a steady start to end Day 2 after bowling Australia out in their opening innings. On the third day, though, they will confront a tremendous obstacle.

In a recent conversation, legendary batsman Cheteshwar Pujara criticised Indian batters for taking too many swings at the pink ball while it was at its freshest.

“The strategy appears to be to play more positively, as was mentioned in the team meeting with the manner the Indians are batting. In the second innings of the first Test match in Perth, we batted carefully against the new ball. In the opening 15 to 20 overs, they are playing too many shots. In an interview with Star Sports, Cheteshwar Pujara said, “You have to play shots to put pressure on the bowlers quite a bit, but you also have to respect the conditions because the Australian bowlers know which channel to bowl.”

You need to be more assured when defending yourself: Cheteshwar Pujara

The Saurashtra hitter blamed the Indians’ poor shot selection on their lack of experience playing Pink Ball in front of lights.

He lavished the Australian bowlers with praise as well. Both their constant use of top-of-off channels and their sporadic use of the short delivery were lauded.

“The shot selection may have been improved, but the bowling was superb. You should bat a bit more carefully. You need to be more assured when defending yourself. I thought the lack of experience with the pink ball was the main issue. We don’t play many Test matches during the day. Therefore, we lack the experience there. There is less reaction time and a little more skidding of the ball. “Every batter who was removed was somewhere late on the ball,” Pujara continued.