Veteran Indian batter Cheteshwar Pujara was left unimpressed by the Indian bowling attack’s plans against Travis Head, saying that the bowlers failed to exploit the Australian batter’s weakness against short ball.
“Head’s weakness is short-pitched deliveries, which is well known to the opposition. But we only saw two-three short-pitched deliveries to him… They could have been used more effectively,” Pujara said on Star Sports.
“He dominates the offside, so we could have curbed his offside stroke-making and instead of a 6-3 (offside-onside) a 5-4 field placement would have been a good ploy against Head,” he added.
The 36-year-old also said that the inexperience of the Indian batters against the pink ball was one of the reasons for their collapse.
“The batters played too late, with most of them getting out because of their inexperience with the pink ball. They should have discussed in the team meeting when to score runs and when to play defensively. If 2-3 wickets had fallen today, there could have been a comeback chance, but now it’s very difficult,” he said.
Buoyed by Head’s century and Marnus Labuschagne’s 64, Australia posted 337 runs in their first innings. Replying, India suffered another collapse losing 5 wickets for just 105 runs with Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill, KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi all back in the hut.
Rishabh Pant and Nitish Reddy are currently in the middle as India trail by 29 runs.
“Pant’s counterattack was necessary and unsettled (Scott) Boland with his range of shots. He picked the length well, a good strategy. However, he will have a big responsibility. If this partnership reaches 100 or more, India will have a chance. This is the last pair for India, as the lower order is unlikely to contribute much against the pink ball,” Pujara said.
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