WTC Final: Cheteshwar Pujara wasn’t able to deliver despite playing County cricket, says Danish Kaneria

Former Pakistan leg-spinner Danish Kaneria stated Cheteshwar Pujara wasn’t able to deliver despite playing County Cricket. Pujara returned with scores of 14 and 27 in the World Test Championship final against Australia at the Oval and thus failed to deliver the goods for the team.

Ahead of the all-important final, Pujara was in red-hot form in County Championship Division Two while playing for Sussex. Pujara scored 545 runs in eight innings at an average of 68.12, including three centuries and he was the second-highest run-getter of the competition.

However, Pujara could not continue the same form in the WTC Final against Australia. Furthermore, the likes of Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, and Virat Kohli could not deliver the goods for the Indian team as they managed 296 and 234 in each of the two innings.

“Cheteshwar Pujara played County cricket for over two months ahead of the WTC final. Interestingly, he played in the same County. Despite playing for Sussex, he was not able to manage it. This indicates that the bowlers in County cricket were weak, and he got runs,” said Kaneria on his YouTube Channel.

The former leg-spinner added that Australian bowlers were right on the money and Pujara could not get the job done. Pujara decided to leave the ball which ended up on the stumps in the first innings and tried to play the uppercut in the second essay and could only manage an edge to the keeper.

“The Australian bowlers were far better, and he couldn’t deliver against them. He played and practiced on the kind of wicket for a couple of months and was well aware of the conditions, but still, he was unable to play top-notch innings,” Kaneria added.

The Indian batters could not deliver the goods against the Australian bowlers, who were right on the money. Scott Boland was the pick of the Australian bowlers as he troubled the Indian batters with his accurate line and length.