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As India gear up for the Boxing Day Test, Jaiswal would like to return among the runs, and veteran India batter Cheteshwar Pujara has some useful suggestions for the youngster.
Cheteshwar Pujara offers solution to Yashasvi Jaiswal’s problem in Australia
Yashasvi Jaiswal kicked off his maiden Australia tour with a magnificent century, scoring 161 in India’s second innings in Perth. However, the left-hander endured low scores in Adelaide and Brisbane, including a first-ball duck. Jaiswal has showcased promise since making his Test debut in 2023 and had a terrific series against England at home earlier this year. But batting in Australia has been challenging so far for the 22-year-old.
As India gear up for the Boxing Day Test, Jaiswal would like to return among the runs, and veteran India batter Cheteshwar Pujara has some useful suggestions for the youngster. Speaking to Star Sports, Pujara stated that Jaiswal appears to be in a hurry while batting against the Australians. Instead, the Mumbai batter needs to give himself time and play the ball on its merit.
“He needs to give himself a bit more time, the way he is playing, he is trying to rush things, he is trying to play shots a bit more. He should only play shots if he is quite sure about it, especially in the first 5–10 overs because it seems that he is in a hurry to score runs, he wants a quick start, and he wants to score those first 15–20 runs quickly,” Pujara said.
“When you are an opener in Test cricket then you don’t go out searching for the ball, you play the deliveries on merit. Even if you are an aggressive player, even Virender Sehwag was an aggressive player, but he used to play shots only when the ball was pitched in his zone.
“There are a lot of aggressive batters and openers in Test cricket today, but they play the shots when the ball is pitched in the hitting zone, but here it looks like Yashasvi is trying to convert the shots, he is trying to drive the deliveries which are not pitched up,” he added.
Pujara maintained that Jaiswal needs to maintain his composure and spend a bit more time in the middle with his defence if he wants to succeed in Australian conditions.
“He needs to be a bit calm, he needs to spend a bit more time, if he will show some confidence in his defence then that’s when he’ll come across some shot-playing deliveries because the moment when you show some respect to the bowlers and you defend well then they’ll look forward to getting a wicket and gradually they’ll start pitching the ball a bit up and that’s when you can play those drives,” Pujara concluded.
