Cheteshwar Pujara on his improved performance in white-ball cricket

Cheteshwar Pujara (PC: Twitter)

With sensational performances in England’s One Day Cup, Cheteshwar Pujara has finally managed to break his image of being only a Test specialist. For the major part of his cricket career, the Indian batter has been seen as a misfit for white-ball cricket. While he is a regular for the Men in Blue in the purest format, Pujara has featured in just five One Day Internationals scoring 51 runs.

However, playing for Sussex, the 34-year-old caused carnage in the 50-over format. In nine matches, he smacked a whopping 624 runs at an average of 89.14. Pujara’s heroics helped his team reach the semi-final. Speaking about the drastic change in his game, the Indian star revealed that not playing any game for Chennai Super Kings hit him hard.

Pujara’s stint with CSK

The Yellow Army included Pujara in their squad for the 2021 edition of the Indian Premier League. Though he won the cup with the side, the batter couldn’t play even a single match. The snub forced the Gujarat-born to reflect on his game and make appropriate changes.

Speaking on The Cricket Podcast, Pujara revealed:

"This is a different side of my game for sure. There is no doubt about it. Pitches were good, slightly flat but even on those surfaces, you need to have that intent of scoring at a higher strike rate. This is something that I have always worked on.

"I was part of CSK a year before last and when I didn't play any games and saw the guys prepare, I told myself that if I want to play the shorter format, I need to be a little more fearless. I always used to put a big prize on my wicket but in the shorter formats, you still want to play your shots in your game.”

Pujara reflects on his training sessions with Grant

Further in the interaction, Pujara revealed that before the One Day tournament, he had an extensive chat with the Sussex batting coach Grant Flower on what changes he can make in his technique. The batter practiced a plethora of lofty shots in the nets to get confidence and execute them properly during the match.

“When we were training, Grant told me that I am executing those well and that gave me confidence. I thought that if I could keep working on some of the lofted shots which could help me and if I can execute those, I could be successful even in shorter formats.”

Notably, Sussex were ruled out of the final race after losing to Lancashire in the semi-final by 65 runs. Pujara suffered a heartbreaking dismissal in the knockout game by George Balderson after scoring ten runs.

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