New Delhi: Indian batter Cheteshwar Pujara said that the bowling unit led by Jasprit Bumrah failed to hit the right lengths during the first day of the second Test match at the Adelaide Oval, which was played in the day-night format with pink ball being the cynosure.
Australia bowled out India for a measly 180 after Rohit Sharma opted to bat first in Adelaide thanks to the ravening spell from left-arm quick Mitchell Starc (6 for 48). In response, the hosts finished at 86 for 1 at the end of the stumps with Nathan McSweeney (38*) and Marnus Labuschagne (20*) remaining unbeaten.
Fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah, who stood as the team’s captain in the first Test in Perth, picked up the lone wicket of Australian opener Usman Khawaja, but that was the only success India could have as the young McSweeney in the accompany of the prolific Labuschagne played them out in the final session.
Cheteshwar Pujara, who has been sidelined by the national selectors since June 2023, explained where India missed the trick by not changing their lengths and were adamant with a particular length instead.
“I think so (India’s bowlers didn’t had the right lengths). We stuck to our lengths from the first game, which is not ideal length on this particular pitch where if you keep hitting between 6-8 meters length, the balls are not hitting the stumps,” Pujara told ESPNcricinfo.
“You have to be little fuller, line wise you have to be little straighter, and we haven’t been able to do that in this particular Test match so far,” he added.
Pujara, on the other hand, appreciated Starc for constantly changing his lengths throughout the Indian innings to claim the dismissals of batters at different positions.
“I think he has length. Early on, he knew that he had to hit the stump. He got a ball to swing a bit more and he pitched the ball up. I think the length was the key and he read his length really well,” Pujara said.
“With the new ball he got success, but after that he also conceded few fours. He realised that he had to change that length and he did that with the way KL and Virat got out. He varied his length really very well,” the 36-year-old added.
India lost their first wicket on the very first ball of the match after opener Yashasvi Jaiswal was pinned in front of the stumps from an outswinger by Starc. KL Rahul (37) and Shubman Gill (31) stitched 69-run stand for the second wicket, which was one of the two positive signs after Nitesh Kumar Reddy hit 42 off 54 balls late in the innings.
Pujara, who has scored 7195 runs in 188 Test innings at 43.60, said that India were dismissed for a sub-par score and could have posted 250 at least.
“We could have been little better. Genuinely feel that we should have got close to 250-275 on that pitch. It looked really nice. (Though) we lost the first wicket on first ball, but after that there was a partnership and that was probably the best partnership of this innings,” Pujara said.
“We saw that even towards the end despite losing wickets, we were able to score runs. I felt that we could have been little better with the bat and we should have posted somewhere close to 250,” he added.
India are currently in lead for the five-match Test series with a 1-0 margin.
Indian batter Cheteshwar Pujara said that the bowling unit led by Jasprit Bumrah failed to hit the right lengths during the first day of the second Test match at the Adelaide Oval, which was played in the day-night format with pink ball being the cynosure. Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
