Mumbai: After his poor performance during the West Indies tour where he had a strike rate of 27.4, Chetashwar Pujara was dropped for the third Test match. Test Captain Virat Kohli admitted that he and Coach Anil Kumble had spoken to him about it. But after his performance in Kanpur Test, his strike rate improved drastically, 53.6 and he made his runs on a very good tempo, scoring 140 from 261 balls.
Post this match, Kumble sided the batsman saying he’s a vital cog in the team’s scheme of things and no one has put pressure on him.
“From my point of view, strike rates are only relevant to bowlers in Test cricket, not batsmen.” said Kumble. Calling himself himself old fashioned he added, “…I’m a bit old fashioned. I know there is a lot of strike rate in the last eight years after the advent of T20. As far as I was concerned, when I was playing in Test cricket strike rate was spoken about bowlers, not batsmen,”
He added, “That’s how I looked at it. In the team you need different characters, different quality players, different players with skill sets which are suited to challenges in a Test match. Because every session can be different in a Test match, we have seen that. And that’s the beauty about Test cricket. In my point of view, strike rates are only relevant to bowlers in Test cricket, not the batsmen.”
Former chief selector Sandip Patil, disregarding the talks of pressurizing Pujara, had said “I’m extremely surprised and a bit disappointed this talk keeps coming up. As long as someone reads the situation and plays according to it, what’s expected from the team, it’s fine. He’s a very important cog in our plans. He’s been successful. I know that he will continue to be successful.”
“We all know the importance of first session in a Test of a series. So the relevance of Pujara is there. You need to bat according to the situation,” said the 45-year-old.
“At least from the team perspective, there’s absolutely no pressure on Pujara. We have seen his contribution over the years. Even in the last Test we saw the importance of his contribution to the team’s cause. So I don’t see any pressure on anyone in this team. The beauty about this squad is that there is hardly any pressure on anyone. Yes, there are roles and responsibilities. But there is no pressure.”
On the other hand, Gautam Gambhir has been called back after 2 years in as a replacement for the opener KL Rahul after his injury. When asked if Pujara can now relax a bit as Gambhir is at the top, Kumble said: “I don’t think Pujara has ever breathed easy, from all you perspective and some people who are constantly watching him.”
About Gambhir, he added, “It’s actually nice to have Gautam back. Unfortunately Rahul got injured in the last Test match. I think something’’s happening with the openers. For some reason they are getting injured. Vijay got injured in West Indies. Now Rahul. It’s unfortunate. Rahul was batting brilliantly. But having said that Gautam has been done really well in domestic cricket. He is a part of the 15. I don’t want to give away anything. All 15 are available for selection.”
Kumble also supported Rohit Sharma, who though, flopped in the first innings of the opening Test but returned among runs with an unbeaten 68 in the second one contributing to India’s win. He said, “His batting form in the second innings augurs well for the team. In the first innings he was disappointed with the way he got out. He’s aware of this and in the second innings he played a brilliant innings. That 100-plus partnership with (Ravindra) Jadeja was crucial to take the game away from the New Zealanders.”
“It ensured that we take the momentum and it carried over after that dominating session. It’s not just good for the team but I’m sure it would have done a boost to his confidence. In this squad we will only look at what is needed for that playing XI. We have constantly gone with five bowlers but in the last Test we felt four bowlers with an additional batsman was needed, so we opted for Rohit at no 6,” Kumble further added.
We know he has played a lot for New Zealand. He’s done well in the county championship recently as well. We know quite a bit about what he can do,” Kumble said about Jeetan Patel, who has been brought into the game instead of Mark Criag.
when asked about New Zealand’s experienced opener Martin Guptill, Kumble said, “Well it is never easy for someone to come to the subcontinent and play his shots. He is a strokemaker. We know Guptill is a quality player but it’s not easy coming to the subcontinent having not had good form. From our perspective we hope that continues. You like the openers to get out early. That’s what we like to look at doing. That’s true of any Test team.”
Kumble showing confidence to counter any challenge, that came in the way said, “There’s been a lot of rain. Hope rain does not play a spoilsport during the Test. It will be a good wicket. I’ve already spoken that we have the squad to encounter any challenge and adapt to whatever conditions. We are not really worried too much about the pitch. We have all our bases covered.”