Cheteshwar Pujara, who hit a patient 132 in India’ first innings effort of 273 all out said that teammate Ravichandran Ashwin kept on bowling in the right areas after the off-spinner ended with just one wicket in the 35 overs he bowled. India had the match well and truly under control at 122/5 but Ashwin failed to capitalise on this situation as England rebuilt their innings with a gritty half-century from Jos Buttler as the hosts now have taken their lead to 233, ending the day at 260/8.
Defending the all-rounder, Pujara, as quoted by NDTV said, “I don’t think he had a bad day. He didn’t get too many wickets but he kept on bowling in the right areas. Sometimes as a bowler, you do have such days when you are bowling but you might not end up picking too many wickets.”
“Someone like him, he is a clever bowler, and he has done really well for us throughout the domestic season as well as overseas. So, I don’t think he has bowled badly at all. But yes, the pitch has slowed down a lot and that could be the reason some of his balls (deliveries) didn’t go through as much he might have wanted,” he added further.
England all-rounder Moeen Ali made good use of the rough made by the fast bowlers as he scalped five wickets giving away 63 runs to restrict India’s lead to only 27 runs.
“It is their team combination. I don’t think it matters too much, but being an off-spinner, Ashwin bowls well to left-handers. I don’t think it makes a huge difference,” the right-hander further opined.
The Saurashtra batsman’s knock of 132 runs stood out for India in the first innings with Ali starring for the visitors with a five-wicket haul.
Pujara, however, felt that the Indian batsmen could have played Ali better.
“When he bowled in the first innings the wicket was a little quicker. Obviously, some of our batsmen could have batted well against him, but he is a good bowler..Obviously I am not trying to take any credit away from how he bowled. But we still should have batted better against him. I think in the second innings our batsmen will have a better game plan against Moeen,” he added.