‘Strike rate is absolute nonsense’: Dinesh Karthik says Pujara wins matches for India

Team India wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik whereas complimenting Cheteshwar Pujara notably his present in opposition to Australia additionally felt that folks shouldn’t be bothered concerning the Indian Test specialist’s strike fee.
Pujara won’t have scored a lot in Down Under however he batted for an extended, very long time and helped India report a historic sequence win early this 12 months.
“I feel this strike rate is absolute nonsense. If you take the number of Test matches that have gotten over in four days – it is about 80-82%. So, why to bother about strike rate, let him play at whatever strike rate he wants to play, as long as he can win Test matches for India,” Karthik mentioned.
“Now, Pujara, why hasn’t he scored runs? You have to understand if you take the last match, he was playing against ranked turners (against England back home), where the team was finding it hard to score 200 runs and to expect Pujara to score a 100 is unfair,” the Kolkata Knight Riders participant instructed Star Sports on the eve of the WTC remaining

“We have played under tough conditions… If you take that Sydney Test match, the number of blows that he (Pujara) just took. Pat Cummins (KKR teammate) was talking to me about that in the IPL – saying the difference between India drawing the Test match and losing it was one man, Cheteshwar Pujara. The amount of time that he batted, he was giving him body blows,” Cummins recollected to Karthik.
“If you had put any of the other Indian batsmen at that stage of the day, early on when there is probably a little bit of juice, they would have struggled. There was a good chance we would have capitulated on that game. For us to not cross that hurdle, to get to Brisbane unscathed, the reason was Pujara in a big way,” mentioned Karthick who will likely be commenting on the WTC remaining match.
Contrasting characters like fireplace and ice
Speaking on the bond between Virat Kohli and Kane Williamson, the Tamil Nadu participant mentioned: “As cliché goes, fire and ice is the best way to put it for both of them. This guy (Virat Kohli) breathes fire, that guy (Kane Williamson) is about as cool as it comes. You need 32 runs in one over, he is still smiling and making it look like it’s too easy.”
It could also be recalled the rivalry between Kohli and his Kiwi counterpart Williamson which began from the 2008 ICC Under-19 World Cup in Malaysia.
“Virat on the other hand, you know he is in your face, if you get it wrong once, he is going to give you the choicest of words when you go back – once you get out. That’s always been the experience that I have had and that is the beauty of playing with both of these guys. They love their cricket, but they play two different ways,” Karthik added.