Ravichandran Ashwin comes up with an interesting challenge for Cheteshwar Pujara ahead of England series

Senior India batsman Cheteshwar Pujara is well known for his extreme patience and resilience. More often than not, he gets praised for his tough character on the field.

Often criticised for his over defensive approach, Pujara batted like a warrior in the recently concluded Border-Gavaskar series against Australia. He exhibited supreme grit and determination even after receiving numerous body blows, especially in the Brisbane Test.

Veteran Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was also seen discussing Pujara’s style of play with batting coach Vikram Rathour in a video uploaded on his YouTube channel.

In the video, Ashwin asks an interesting question to Rathour related to Pujara ahead of the upcoming home series against England.

“Will we ever see Pujara hit an off-spinner over the top?” asked Ashwin.

Rathour replied by saying that he is trying to convince the Rajkot-lad to at least once go for the glory shot.

“Work-in-progress. I’m trying to convince him that at least once go over the top. He is still not convinced; He is giving me great reasons,” said Rathour.

After Rathour’s response, Ashwin came up with an ‘open challenge’ for the Pujara. The Tamil Nadu spinner claimed that if the Indian middle-order batsman steps down the wicket against any English spinner in the upcoming reb-ball battle, he shall trim his half moustache and play the game.

“If he goes over the top against Moeen Ali or any other spinner stepping down the wicket in this English series that we gonna play, I will take half my moustache out and come to play the game. This is an open challenge,” said Ashwin.

Ashwin also explained why he sledges the Saurashtra batsman in the team. He said the way Pujara steps up and blocks the ball against spin bowlers, it increases his heartbeat.

“Because what happens is, every time an opponent like Nathan Lyon is bowling, Pujji makes it, so heart throbbing for me. Every time the ball goes up in the air, I am like ‘You know what? Nobody plays like this man. You are making him look unplayable.’ And eventually, everybody will think that I’m not able to make the other batsmen bat like this,” added Ashwin.

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