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Cheteshwar Pujara wants Pakistan to have a more courageous batting approach after a dismal performance in their opening game at the Champions Trophy 2025.
Pakistan’s batting against New Zealand saw the Champions Trophy hosts cop a lot of criticism. (Image: AP)
Cheteshwar Pujara called for Pakistan to change their batting approach ahead of the highly-anticipated clash against India in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025. He expressed his disappointment watching the tournament hosts’ performance and felt that it was unacceptable considering the target they had to chase down.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with CNN-News18, Pujara reflected on Pakistan’s dismal batting performance against New Zealand which saw the hosts being beaten by 60 runs against New Zealand in front of a home crowd in Karachi.
“I would say they were quite disappointed with the way the team played in that game. It’s not about losing the game but how you lose the game that also matters and I don’t think Pakistan played at their best potential,” Pujara shared his thoughts.
“I would question their approach, especially when they were batting. They just scored 22 runs in the first ten overs. That I feel is unacceptable when you are chasing more than 300 runs. So that approach is wrong,” he added.
He talked about Bangladesh’s batting performance against India and explained how their approach was the right way to go about it as opposed to Pakistan who started extremely slow in a 300+ run chase.
“I mean there are times where you lose the game. Even if you look at the way Bangladeshi players batted yesterday in the power play, they were very aggressive. They kept losing the wickets. But still, their intent was perfect,” he commented.
“There were some brash shots but that comes with the experience. But their approach was really good. They were trying to put the bowlers under pressure whereas the way Pakistani batters were batting in the power play, they never looked like putting any pressure on the bowlers and they were trying to survive, they were trying to not get out and that’s not the way you play ODI cricket,” he added.
Pujara feels that the 50-over game warrants a more proactive approach where the batters should try and get runs in the first 10 overs. He also talked about how the older ball can make life difficult for the batter and it is important to score runs early on when the fielders are inside the circle.
“In ODI cricket, you need to be a little courageous, you need to make the most of the power play, especially on slow pitches where the ball comes on nicely. When the ball is hard and new. Once the ball gets a little softer, once it gets little older, it becomes a little difficult to time the ball. Even we saw yesterday in India, Bangladesh game, once you start bowling slower balls into the pitch, you know it becomes hard to hit the ball,” he concluded.
Pakistan will look to put their dismal performance against the Kiwis behind them and look to redeem themselves as they take on the Men in Blue in their second group-stage fixture in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 in Dubai on Sunday.
