File photo of Virat Kohli (left) with Cheteshwar Pujara.
Virat Kohli seemed to be miss out on an imminent century on Friday when he was run out after a poor call by Ajinkya Rahane while batting on 74. However, Australian cricket legend Ian Chappell feels it wasn't Ajinkya who left the Indian skipper frustrated but Cheteshwar Pujara.
Following a poor technical showing by top-order batsmen Prithvi Shaw and Mayank Agarwal in the opening session of Day 1 of the Australia vs India Test, Pujara received praise for grinding the Aussie pacer with his familiar go-slow tactics before the Dinner break.
However, playing too many dot balls while not rotating strike in the second session as well, coupled with abysmal showing against spinner Nathan Lyon, meant few experts saw little positives in his 160-ball 43 at the Adelaide Oval.
The 32-year-old right-hander had forged a 68-run stand with skipper Virat Kohli in the second session but Chappell felt that Pujara often left a batsman of Kohli's stature frustrated by not taking enough singles before falling prey to Lyon.
“A player of his calibre should have been able to manoeuvre the ball a bit better and pick up singles,” Chappell told Wide World of Sports. “I think he was frustrating Kohli by the fact that he wasn’t getting singles. But that’s the way (Pujara) plays.”
India will resume Day 2 on 233/6 with Ravichandran Ashwin (15*) and Wriddhiman Saha (9*) still at the crease.
