Following Cheteshwar Pujara’s five-ball duck in the second Test at Wankhede on Friday (December 3), former Indian batting coach Sanjay Bangar revealed the reason behind Pujara’s dismissal against the Kiwi left-arm spinner Ajaz Patel. According to Bangar, India’s no. 3 was looking to play against the turn and in the process of stepping out but he yorked himself.
"Here he was looking to go against the turn and the fuller length because we also mentioned in our stint is a lot of deliveries from Ajaz Patel were actually fuller lengths, they were driving deliveries. But by going out, he yorked himself there and that caused his dismissal. So two things, yorking himself and then looking to go against the turn, that led to his dismissal," the former Indian batting coach told Star Sports.
Ajaz bowled pitched it on the middle and leg stump, and in attempt to play against the turn, the fuller delivery hit Pujara's pads right in front of the off-stump and then hit the stumps.
It's been almost two years since the Test specialist, along with Indian captain Virat Kohli, has been battling for hundreds. Pujara's last Test hundred came against Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) in 2019. Pujara has not breached the three figures in 41 innings since then. The veteran used to have a batting average of around 50, but his drought for runs caused his average to drop to 44.26.
Furthermore, with this duck, the right-handed batter got an unwanted record of joint-most ducks by a no. 3 Indian batter in Test cricket, surpassing his idol and current head coach Rahul Dravid (8) and equalling Dilip Vengasarkar.
