HIGHLIGHTS

• Former India Women coach WV Raman has said that Cheteshwar Pujara should capitalise on scoring opportunities in India
• Raman said that batting for long hours before scoring is a technique which can work in India and Australia
• One has to cope with seam, swing and bounce in England: WV Raman

Former India Women coach WV Raman has said that Cheteshwar Pujara will have to make the best use of the scoring opportunities in the difficult English conditions. The statement from Raman comes a week ahead of India’s World Test Championship (WTC) final versus New Zealand.

WV Raman, also a former India cricketer, pointed out that Pujara’s technique of grinding the bowlers first and then scoring can work in India and Australia, but in English conditions, where conditions are capable of changing every session, Pujara “can look and play a few more shots”.

“I think Cheteshwar perhaps can look at playing a few more shots. In England, you’ve got to make the best use of the scoring opportunities. Assuming this will again be a typical English summer, you will get very few scoring opportunities anyway. Cheteshwar likes to grind for long hours and then score. In that period, he might miss out on some scoring opportunities.

You can get away with that in India, Australia, where there is not much swing and seam. But both happen a lot in England. In Australia, you will have bounce, you might have a bit of seam but in England, you will have to cope with all three at times. It is important not to let the scoring opportunities go. This not only gives him runs and builds his confidence but it also puts the bowler under pressure. It makes him think,” WV Raman told Hundustan Times.

WV Raman talks about importance of ‘mental domination’

Further, the 56-year-old, cited Australia great Shane Warne’s example to mark the importance of ‘mental domination’. He said that Warne could not enjoy a lot of success against India as batsmen punished him on loose deliveries. Likewise, Pujara should create more problems for bowlers by trying to score runs against them.

“I’m not trying to say that he has to play against his character. He keeps it very simple. If he picks a bowler and decides that he has to play him out then he can do that quite easily and he does that quite often. But if he just tries to score some runs even against the best bowler then that will keep the bowler on his toes. He suddenly has to think about saving runs too, it’s not only about bowling over after over to Pujara and testing his resilience. The equation then changes slightly.

“That was perhaps one of the biggest differences between the Indian batters and others when they played Shane Warne. The moment he dropped it slightly short or got his line wrong, our players were ready to punish him. That’s why he perhaps did not have as much success against India as he did against South Africa in England. He did not have mental domination over India,” WV Raman added.

India and New Zealand face off in the final of WTC from June 18 in Southampton.