Cheteshwar Pujara does not strike as a person who even answers to sledges with his words, but, in a recent interview with teammate Ajinkya Rahane he went on to reveal that he is learning how to sledge. Pujara is considered to be one of the coolest and calm headed batsmen who is only involved in his business every time he comes to bat. Pujara recently rose in ICC Test Batsman rankings and took the 3rd slot on the list. He now aims to score the third century in a row in the upcoming Pallekele Test.
Sledging is a practice in cricket where the players from one team insult or verbally intimate the other to distort the opposition’s focus on the play.
Pujara, when asked by Rahane on the recent development, said: “I did not use to sledge earlier but now I am learning to sledge as it is a crucial part of the game and you need to learn a little bit of that, but it should not be personal.”
“I planned to take some time at the crease and I was also visualising the game in the dressing room and made up my mind to unsettle the spinners because I knew the more we play on the front foot, the more we will get runs at the backfoot, although there is a risk factor in taking charge at the bowlers but sometimes it is necessary.”
Rahane also shared his journey on becoming a better slip fielder. He said, “I used to drop a lot of catches and as a result I used to get shifted from one position to another which hurt me a lot, so the last time India toured Sri Lanka in 2015, I decided to take 100 catches in every practice session which helped my slip fielding but I still want to keep improving at slip as it is a very crucial position in terms of taking catches.”
#TeamIndia batsmen @ajinkyarahane88 & @cheteshwar1 in conversation after the 2nd Test win – by @28anand https://t.co/XCAkPMjj2W… #SLvIND
— BCCI (@BCCI) August 8, 2017
The dependable cricketer shared his experience from the time he first started playing cricket. He said, “I got my first triple hundred in U-14 and everything started from there, I played for U-19 and then Ranji Trophy where I played for Saurashtra, so I always felt if you need to win a four-day game, you need to score big. I feel that hundred is not enough in a longer format and if you can score 150 or 200 then why not go for it,”.
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