BAN vs IND: Sending Axar Patel at quantity 4 was an important transfer for us, says Cheteshwar Pujara

India batter Cheteshwar Pujara has stated that sending Axar Patel to bat at quantity 4 was essential for the staff. India beat Bangladesh by three wickets to clean-sweep the two-match Test collection.

New Delhi,UPDATED: Dec 25, 2022 18:55 IST

India beat Bangladesh by 3 wickets in Mirpur (AP)

By India Today Web Desk: India batter Cheteshwar Pujara has stated that sending Axar Patel to bat at quantity 4 was essential for the staff. India beat Bangladesh by three wickets to clean-sweep the two-match Test collection.

Speaking after the match, Pujara stated it was an important transfer for India to ship Axar to bat earlier than Virat Kohli within the second innings.

“It was a very good move because among their three strike bowlers, two were left-arm spinners. Axar is a left-hander, so he was sent to tackle them and to have a batter who can bat sensibly in the initial period against the Kookaburra ball. It was a crucial move for us,” stated Pujara.

The 34-year-old stated Axar’s innings was very worthwhile for Team India, including that he got here in throughout an vital part of the match.

“That was an important phase of the game where we didn’t want to lose too many wickets in the evening, and he could have batted cautiously. So I was not surprised. When you are chasing a 145-run total, every run is important, and the way he batted, his innings was very valuable for us,” Pujara added.

Talking about his dismissal within the second innings, Pujara stated he was barely late to react to Mehidy Hasan’s supply.

“The way I was batting in this series, it was a slightly unfortunate dismissal in the first innings as well, I was quite confident about playing on this wicket. Yesterday also I was slightly unfortunate, I got an inside edge, and the ball hit my inner thigh and went to the keeper. I was slightly late to react,” stated Pujara.

He went on say that credit score goes to Bangladesh for taking the match to the wire.

“The situation was quite ideal. I was feeling that the way I have been batting, if we had not lost too many wickets in that one hour, had scored 60-70 for the loss of one or two wickets, the match would have turned in our favour yesterday itself, but credit goes to the Bangladesh team for the way they bowled,” Pujara added.

Edited By:

Rounaq Sehrawat

Published On:

Dec 25, 2022