Cheteshwar Pujara is as important to Test team as Virat Kohli: Sourav Ganguly

Agencies
March 22, 2018

Virat Kohli may be the most valuable Indian cricketer at the moment but former India captain Sourav Ganguly on Wednesday said Cheteshwar Pujara is also equally good and is someone who goes "unnoticed".

"Along with Virat Kohli in this team Pujara's record is as good as anybody. He's from that old school of cricket where he will grind you, and win you matches but he goes unnoticed," Ganguly said, heaping praise on the Test specialist.

Ganguly was addressing a gathering during the Kolkata book launch of his memoir A Century Is Not Enough which was attended by Pujara.

“The best team had the best number three. When India played at its best the best number three was (Rahul) Dravid. When India played at its best away, it's Pujara at number three," Ganguly said.

"They actually take the shine off the new ball, allow the stroke makers to make batting easier. He (Pujara) is as important to this Test team as Virat Kohli. But sometimes he goes unnoticed. Look at his Test records, after 57 Tests, he has 14 hundreds."

Ignored for the upcoming IPL, Pujara will use the free period to hone his skills at Yorkshire for a second county stint.

"I still prefer to play in the old school, spend a lot of time at the crease, read situation and then start scoring runs," Pujara said.

"Once you assess the conditions, you know what the bowlers are up to and you are in a different zone. I don't need to worry about playing shots it comes naturally."

Pujara, however, said recently he's trying out playing lofted shots to meet the demands of the limited overs cricket when he turns up for his home state Saurashtra in domestic season.

"Obviously not for Tests, but when I practised for T20 matches, I practised reverse sweeps. If you need to get better at something, you need to start playing the shots," he said.

"To get myself better in one-dayers and T20s, I also started playing lofted shots. Before five-six years, I never used to play any lofted shots. I've been working in that in the nets, when it comes off they (teammates) are very happy about it."

The programme was also attended by Ganguly's former teammates Harbhajan Singh and VVS Laxman, the two famous architects of the 2001 Test victory at Eden Gardens.

"This book would never happened if it was not for the 2001 Test and the Pakistan series (2003-04)."

VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid combined for a 376-run stand at the Eden Gardens, paving way for an unlikely Indian win in the epic Test.

After following-on, India batted long enough in the second innings to declare for 657/7, setting Australia a target of 384.

Ganguly revealed that it was a note from his father from the gallery upstairs that had prompted him to declare the innings.

"I got a chit from my dad who wrote 'what's happening, why you're not declaring? Everybody is screaming at the top of their head'," he said.

Hat-trick man Harbhajan bagged six wickets in the second innings to return with a match haul of 13 wickets to hand India a 171-run win.

Crediting Ganguly for all he achieved, Harbhajan said: "If Dada was not my captain, I would not have been here. Bowler banaya jata hai. Bowler banane ke liye cpatin chahiye, jigrewala. (You need a big-hearted captain to make a bowler)."

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News Network
May 10,2020

New Delhi, May 10: Former Australia captain Ian Chappell has proposed radical changes in the LBW laws, stating that a batsman should be given out leg before as long as the ball is hitting the stumps irrespective of the spot of its landing and impact.

Chappell also said captains should agree on one way of working up the ball which will encourage swing bowling, even as the ICC is considering the use of artificial substances to shine the ball instead of sweat and saliva in post-COVID-19 scenario.

"The new lbw law should simply say: 'Any delivery that strikes the pad without first hitting the bat and, in the umpire's opinion, would go on to hit the stumps is out regardless of whether or not a shot is attempted'," he wrote in a column for ESPNcricinfo.

"Forget where the ball pitches and whether it strikes the pad outside the line or not; if it's going to hit the stumps, it's out."

The 76-year-old said the change in lbw law would attract expected criticism from the batsmen but it would make the game more fair.

"There will be screams of horror - particularly from pampered batsmen - but there are numerous positives this change would bring to the game. Most important is fairness.

"If a bowler is prepared to attack the stumps regularly, the batsman should only be able to protect his wicket with the bat. The pads are there to save the batsman from injury not dismissal.

"It would also force batsmen to seek an attacking method to combat a wristspinner pitching in the rough outside the right-hander's leg stump," said Chappell.

He cited Sachin Tendulkar's example on how he negotiated Shane Warne's round the wicket tactic during the 1997-98 Test series in India.

"Contrast Sachin Tendulkar's aggressive and successful approach to Shane Warne coming round the wicket in Chennai in 1997-98 with a batsman who kicks away deliveries pitching in the rough and turning in toward the stumps. Which would you rather watch?

"The current law encourages "pad play" to balls pitching outside leg while this change would force them to use their bat. The change would reward bowlers who attack the stumps and decrease the need for negative wide deliveries to a packed off-side field," he said.

Chappell said his proposed change to the lbw law would also cut down "frivolous" DRS challenges.

"This change to the lbw law would also simplify umpiring and result in fewer frivolous DRS challenges. Consequently, it would speed up a game that has slowed drastically in recent times.

"It would also make four-day Tests an even more viable proposition as mind-numbing huge first-innings totals would be virtually non-existent."

On the substitute of shining the ball without sweat and saliva, Chappell said international captains should find out a way of working up the ball.

"With ball-tampering always a hot topic, in the past I've suggested that administrators ask international captains to construct a list (i.e. the use of natural substances) detailing the things bowlers feel will help them to swing the ball.

"From this list, the administrators should deem one method to be legal with all others being punishable as illegal," the cricketer-turned-commentator added.

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News Network
July 1,2020

New Delhi, Jul 1: After being named as India's 'Most Valuable Player' in Test cricket in the 21st century, all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja on Wednesday said that he will always aim to give his best for the country.

His remark came as Jadeja achieved an MVP rating of 97.3 and as a result, he was also rated as the second most valuable player Test player worldwide, only second to Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan.

"Thank you Wisden India for naming me the 'Most Valuable Player'. I would like to thank all my teammates, coaches, fans, and well-wishers for your support as I aim to give my best for our country. Jai Hind," Jadeja tweeted.

Based on CricViz's market-leading analytics, each player in world cricket was awarded an 'MVP rating' by Wisden using a statistical model to rank their 'match impact' compared to their peers.

Jadeja has played in 49 Tests from 2012, managing to score 1,869 runs and has also picked up 213 wickets.

"It might come as a surprise to see Ravindra Jadeja, India's spin-bowling all-rounder, feature as India's number one. After all, he's not even always an automatic pick in their Test team. However, when he does play he is picked as a frontline bowler and has batted as high as No.6 - contributing to a very high match involvement," the official website of Wisden quoted CricViz's Freddie Wilde as saying.

"But Jadeja's position is based on more than simply volume: it's what he does when he's involved that really counts. The 31-year-old's bowling average of 24.62 is better than Shane Warne's and his batting average of 35.26 is better than Shane Watson's. His batting and bowling average differential of 10.62 runs is the second-best of any player this century to have scored more than 1,000 runs and taken 150 wickets. He is an all-rounder of the very highest quality," he added.

With the bat in hand, Jadeja has managed to score one century and 14 fifties in the longest format of the game.

He was last seen in action during India's two-Test series against New Zealand earlier this year.

He would have been in action for the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the IPL had the tournament commenced from March 29.

However, the IPL has been postponed indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic.

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News Network
April 7,2020

London, Apr 7: Bowling coach Waqar Younis feels that it was the absence of pacers Wahab Riaz and Mohammad Amir which saw Pakistan getting whitewashed during Australia tour last year.

Amir and Riaz had quit the red-ball format ahead of the matches against Australia in 2019.

"Just before the Australia series, they ditched us and we had the only choice to pick youngsters.

We were the new management and decided to go on with taking in the younger lot and groom them. ESPNcricinfo quoted Younis as saying.

Pakistan was not able to win a single match in Australia as they got defeated both in T20Is and Test series.

"It's not like we have lost a lot, but yes they left us at the wrong time. But anyway, we don't have any grudge against them," Younis added.

"We cannot control players' choice on what they want to play, but then there should be a mechanism so we all are on board. "It's not like I am saying we could have won in Australia but we could have done better than what we have done," he opined.

Amir gave up the red ball format in July in order to manage his workload and extend his white-ball career for Pakistan as well as in T20 leagues around the world, while Riaz took an "indefinite break" from Test cricket in September last year.

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