WTC Final – Cheteshwar Pujara should capitalise on scoring opportunities – WV Raman

India’s former cricketer WV Raman has urged Cheteshwar Pujara to be more aggressive in his batting approach while playing in the English conditions against New Zealand in the World Test Championship.

Pujara is known to take his time in the middle but Raman wants Pujara to capitalise on the scoring opportunities and punish the bad balls.

Pujara is known to bat in his own bubble and his strike rate has been in the low 40s. The right-hander has his own methods and he is going to play a crucial role in India’s batting order.

“I think Cheteshwar perhaps can look at playing a few more shots. In England, you’ve got to make the best use of the scoring opportunities. Assuming this will again be a typical English summer, you will get very few scoring opportunities anyway.

Cheteshwar likes to grind for long hours and then score. In that period, he might miss out on some scoring opportunities.

“You can get away with that in India, Australia, where there is not much swing and seam. But both happen a lot in England. In Australia, you will have bounce, you might have a bit of seam but in England, you will have to cope with all three at times. It is important not to let the scoring opportunities go.

This not only gives him runs and builds his confidence but it also puts the bowler under pressure. It makes him think,” WV Raman told Hindustan Times.

Raman added that Pujara shouldn’t try to change his methods and technique but he could be a little more aggressive in his batting approach to instil a bit of fear in the opposition.

“I’m not trying to say that he has to play against his character. He keeps it very simple. If he picks a bowler and decides that he has to play him out then he can do that quite easily and he does that quite often. But if he just tries to score some runs even against the best bowler then that will keep the bowler on his toes.

He suddenly has to think about saving runs too, it’s not only about bowling over after over to Pujara and testing his resilience. The equation then changes slightly.

It is not easy to bat in the English conditions and any ball can have a batsman’s name on it as there is always help with the Duke ball. So it will make sense for Pujara to be a tad aggressive in his batting approach and help his team have their edge against the Kiwis.

The WTC final will take place at Ageas Bowl, Southampton from June 18.