INDIA'S stand-in Jasprit Bumrah, who was leading the national side for the first time ever, sprung a surprise on Friday (1) by sending middle-order better Cheteshwar Pujara to open the innings with Shubman Gill after England captain Ben Stokes won the toss and invited the visitors to bat in the delayed fifth Test of the 2021 series at Edgbaston. And Pujara hit a boundary as his first scoring shot, leaving netizens impressed.
Pujara, who was promoted to make up for the absence of regular opener Rohit Sharma who has been ruled out of the Test after testing Covid-19 positive, is not new to opening the innings in the long format. He first opened for India in Tests in 2012 against the same opponents in Ahmedabad at home and put up 57 runs with former batter Virender Sehwag to help India secure a 9-wicket win. He scored 41 or those runs and remained unbeaten and it came after his double hundred scored in the first innings in his usual batting position of three.
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So far, Pujara has opened for India in red-ball cricket on seven occasions, scoring 395 runs with the highest score of 145 not out made against Sri Lanka in Colombo in 2015. He carried the bat through India’s first innings on that occasion to help them win. However, all his runs as the opener came at No.2 position where he batted on six occasions and scored a duck the only time he opened as a striker.
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On Friday, Pujara opened his account late and it came with a boundary against seamer Stuart Broad. The opening partnership scored 27 runs before Gill fell to James Anderson for 17.
A divided Twitter spoke out to Pujara opening the innings and here are some reactions:
Hanuma Vihari was set to bat at No.3 while Ravindra Jadeja was picked as the sole spinner by India to assist the fast bowling battery, including Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj and Mohammed Shami. All-rounder Shardul Thakur was another fast bowling option that India have in the game.
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