'His style of play allows the bowler..': Tom Moody on Cheteshwar Pujara
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Moody went on to talk about how many Indian batsmen, including Pujara, threw away a good start and how Thakur and Sundar's partnership saved the day for the visitors.
Cheteshwar Pujara was the highest scorer in the 2018/19 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, however, the Indian batsman has failed to leave any impact in the ongoing Test series.
Former Australian legend Tom Moody talked about Pujara's batting and said his style doesn’t do anything to threaten the bowler or throw him off guard, which in turn, allows the bowler to settle due to which he is struggling in the on-going series.
“One observation I have with Pujara… there’s no question about his quality, he’s a very fine Test batsman. But one thing I will say is that his style of play allows the bowler to hone in on a dinner plate and remain in that competitive length and line, where another proactive batsman is reversing the pressure back on the bowler and they are finding it hard to find a dinner plate,” Moody said on ESPNCricinfo.
“There’s a small sort of window on a very good length and line. So Pujara is never quite forcing a bowler like Hazlewood to or a Pat Cummins off that length because he is resolute on his defence. And if they are allowed to stay in there, the ball is going to just bounce a little bit more, seam a little bit more and his bat is going to be sitting there for that.”
Moody went on to talk about how many Indian batsmen, including Pujara, threw away a good start and how Thakur and Sundar's partnership saved the day for the visitors.
“They were saved by the partnership between Thakur and Sundar. If the partnership hadn’t evolved, we’d be talking about the fact that the top order all got starts, except for Shubman Gill and failed to cash in on what was a pretty good batting surface,” Moody mentioned.
“I think we’ve seen today how a good a surface it was at the Gabba and to get a start as a top-order batsman in a Test match and get yourself in and not convert to something substantial, is something you do kick yourself for and a number of the top-order batsman did that through some indifference strokeplay and you have to give credit to the Australian bowlers.”