Former India opener Aakash Chopra has reflected back upon India’s dreadful performance in the pink ball test against Australia at Adelaide. India were bundled from 9/1 to 36/9 in the early hours of day 3. Mohammed Shami who unlike other batsman didn’t lose his wicket was forced to leave the field retired hurt as he was struck by a dreadful short delivery by Pat Cummins on his bowling arm.
Chopra assessed the Indian batsman’s technique against the moving ball and has blamed the reason for this being just playing too much of white-ball cricket. As we all know the white ball typically swings less than the Pink or the red ball in any condition whether its Australia, South Africa or India.
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Other Batsman aren’t as fortunate as Cheteshwar Pujara: Aakash Chopra
While speaking to ESPNCricinfo, Aakash Chopra compared the Indian batsman technique to that of Cheteshwar Pujara and highlighted the key difference between the technique. According to Aakash, Pujara who plays just one format for the Indian team has a technique which has been acclimatised across all three formats of the game. Whereas for other batsmen, their technique is more oriented towards white-ball cricket which doesn’t involve negotiating much with the moving ball.
“There is a certain amount of white-ball play that sneaks into your game where the less movement, the better. If you don’t move that much, then your hands are freer. Someone like Cheteshwar Pujara is an aberration who only plays one format but he has got a different technique. Whether he moves, doesn’t move, the fact is that he’s build a technique which is alright for all-weather, all seasons, all pitches and we saw that last time around as well,” Aakash Chopra said.
Aakash Chopra further spoke about how Pujara’s technique is blended with the amount of patience he has within him. Though others arent as skilled as Pujara when it comes to the technique but if other batsmen have a weakness within them then it is bound to get exploited by the bowlers to their advantage.
“He’s got a unique way but that way works well for him. He’s got loads of patience to make it happen. Others are not as fortunate, others are not as skilled mentally to have that kind of patience. So if there is a technical deficiency, of course, that will get exploited or exposed the moment the ball starts swinging and seaming on Australian, English or South African pitches,” he added.
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