Former Pakistan spinner Danish Kaneria slams Pujara for failing in the recently concluded World Test Championship 2021-23 final against Australia.
Danish Kaneria Slams Pujara For Failing in WTC 2023 Final
World Test Championship 2023 final is scheduled to play from June 7 to 11 in Kennington Oval, London between India and Australia.
While everyone thought that India might win the WTC trophy in their second chance they failed and broke millions of hearts by losing the match by 209 runs.
Apart from many stars, Pujara is expected to play a massive role in the match as he spends almost two months in England condition by playing County crickets. While everyone expects a massive role from him he falls cheaply for 14 and 27 in the first and second innings respectively.
“Cheteshwar Pujara played County cricket for over two months ahead of the WTC final. Interestingly, he played in the same County. Despite playing for Sussex, he was not able to manage it. This indicates that the bowlers in County cricket were weak, and he got runs,” said Kaneria on his YouTube channel.
“The Australian bowlers were far better, and he couldn’t deliver against them. He played and practised on the kind of wicket for a couple of months and was well aware of the conditions, but still, he was unable to play a top-notch inning,” Kaneria added.
Winning the toss, India opted to bowl first and that too particularly without the world’s top-ranked Test bowler – spinner Ravichandran Ashwin.
With Australia 76/3 at one stage it looked as if India’s selection could be the right one. But an unbroken 251-run stand between Head and Smith helped Australia to 469 at the close, leaving India on the back foot in the game.
Earlier, Bowling coach Paras Mhambrey backs Indian bowlers after an unimpressive first day in WTC 2023 final and explains the reason for the exclusion of Ashwin from the playing 11.
Though Mhambrey makes a statement regarding Ashwin’s exclusion, many cricket experts including Sachin Tendulkar slam the Indian selection committee for their decision to play without Ashwin.
The Australian bowling attack came out strong against India in the first inning, reducing India to 151-5 by stumps on day two. Pat Cummins drew first blood by removing Rohit Sharma, while Scott Boland and Cameron Green showcased their skills to dismiss Shubman Gill and Chiteshwar Pujara, respectively.
Rohit Sharma who opened the inning along with Gill failed to make an impact in India’s 1st inning. Rohit lost his wicket for 15 runs in the 6th over bowled by Pat Cummins.
The left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc generated extra bounce to dismiss Virat Kohli for 14 runs while Lyon dismissed Jadeja for 48 runs. India ended up scoring 269 runs in their first innings.
Australia scored 270 runs in their second inning and declared the match. India’s top-order batters once again failed to score big and ended up the inning with a score of 234 and lost the game by 209 runs.
This is the second time where India loses the WTC Final. In the first edition, India loses the trophy to New Zealand; in the second edition, India loses the trophy to Australia.
READ: WTC 2023 Final: ICC Fines Shubman Gill For Breaching Code of Conduct
