Last Update: February 04, 2023, 11:34 IST
Ravi Shastri and Cheteshwar Pujara.
In the second innings, as India were looking to build on their lead, Pujara scored 8 off 61 balls. Then Shastri sent a fielder who told Pujara verbatim: ‘Stop riding Luna and sit on a Harley-Davidson’.
India’s middle-order batsman Cheteshwar Pujara probably isn’t the most old-school cricketer India But the world His ability to sit down and play for hours had created a cult following among young Indian cricket fans over the years. However, this approach has sometimes been misconstrued and in one such instance, it was head coach Ravi Shastri who had to wake up from his slumber using a popular two-wheeler analogy.
In his new book ‘Coaching Beyond’, R Sridhar writes about how Pujara pulled up the bus during the Vizag Test against South Africa in 2019 and left the team management fuming. This included Shatri and Captain Virat Kohli she herself.
“Virat and Ravi wanted Pujara to score quick runs and the reason was that they believed he had the skills to do so. It was a question of convincing him that he could do it at the international level. If he needed bowling occasionally, Ravi was more than happy to oblige, as happened in Visakhapatnam in October 2019,” Sridhar wrote in his book ‘Coaching Beyond’.
The match Sridhar is referring to is the first Test match between the two countries in October 2019. Rohit Sharma opened for the first time in this game and India posted an impressive 502/7 declared in the first innings.
Meanwhile, South Africa had lost a 71-run lead. In the second innings, as India were looking to build on their lead, Pujara scored 8 off 61 balls. Then Shastri sent a fielder who told Pujara verbatim: ‘Stop riding Luna and sit on a Harley-Davidson’.
“We were looking to score quick runs in the second innings so that we can hold South Africa back. Rohit Sharma, who had scored a century in the first innings, was flowing again, but Pujara got trapped. At one point he was on 8 off 61 balls when Ravi decided he had seen enough. So he called a substitute fielder and instructed him to repeat his message to Pujara verbatim, ‘Stop riding Luna and get on a Harley-Davidson’. Right after this there was a period of the game where Pujara actually got Rohit out. He had potential; It was important to ensure that their views are always aligned with the views of the team and give them the feeling that they have the tools to do so,” Sridhar said.
No wonder Pujara woke up from a deep sleep and scored 75 off the next 87 balls before being dismissed for 81 off 148 balls. He and Rohit added 190 runs for the second wicket as India declared on 323/4 and eventually sealed the match by 203 runs.
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