Little bit of blood clot on the shoulders after facing lethal Australian bowling, reckons Cheteshwar Pujara

Little bit of blood clot on the shoulders after facing lethal Australian bowling, reckons Cheteshwar Pujara
Cheteshwar Pujara

Bruises were natural to Cheteshwar Pujara for what he faced in the fourth Test against Australia in Brisbane. Nevertheless, the bouncer-bearer acted as the resting pulse for Team India, which was later encashed by the youngsters.

Pujara, who scored 56 from 211 balls faced a total of 11 blows on his body and was hit multiple times on the head and abdomen.

“There is a little bit of blood clot on the shoulder but it’s all settled, now. I have recovered well,” Pujara told NDTV.

“You have all the protection when you are wearing the helmet. But the one I got hit on the finger was really painful. That was the toughest blow. I thought my finger was broken. I was first hit on my finger during the net session in Melbourne. I carried the niggle to Sydney. But when I was hit on the same finger in Brisbane, it was unbearable,” Pujara added.

Pujara acknowledged Australian bowlers as well

Pat Cummins celebrates Cheteshwar Pujara's wicket (Credit - Cricket Australia)
Pat Cummins

“Credit goes to Australian bowlers. They study your batting, they assess a lot of videos and then they come up with a plan. To break that, you need lot of patience, you need to figure out things to break such game plan,” Pujara said.

“When things are difficult out in the middle, you don’t want to throw your wicket away and put the team under pressure. When someone plays a long innings, it helps the other batsmen who are walking in next,” the 33-year-old added.

In the just-concluded series to Australia, Pujara scored 271 runs and faced 928 deliveries.

Also read: ‘During lockdown I was training every single day and it helped me,’ says Cheteshwar Pujara