India’s chinaman spinner Kuldeep Yadav has picked Cheteshwar Pujara and Rohit Sharma as the toughest batsmen to bowl to in the nets. Yadav selected Pujara for the red-ball version whereas he picked Rohit Sharma for the white ball format. It is well known that Cheteshwar Pujara is rock solid in his defence and he puts a price on his wicket even while batting in the nets.
Pujara is the spine of the Indian Test batting line-up. The right-hander is known for his solid temperament and he can tire down the opposition bowlers. In fact, Pujara had faced more than 1100 balls on the 2018-19 tour to Australia to suck out every ounce of energy of the hosts’ bowlers.
The Saurashtra batsman is competitive in his approach and he won’t play a reckless shot in the nets. Thus, Pujara is hard to get through.
On the other hand, Rohit Sharma is one of the best white ball batsmen. Rohit is quick to gauge the line and length of the ball and he can be merciless in the nets while facing his own team’s bowlers. Rohit can completely demolish the confidence of the bowlers if he gets going.
The right-hander has taken giant strides in the last few years and he is one of the toughest to bowl to as there is any chunk in his armour. Furthermore, Rohit can hit the ground running and there is hardly any scope of veering off the track while bowling against him. If the bowler is slightly off the mark, Rohit can take him to the cleaners. In fact, Rohit is one of those batsmen who can even hit the good deliveries for boundaries.
Kuldeep Yadav said while talking to Cricket.com, “Toughest batsman in the nets is Cheteshwar Pujara I guess. He plays very well against any offspinner, especially in Test cricket. And in ODI format it is Rohit Sharma. Of course there are plenty of youngsters as well. They aren’t afraid of going for the big shots. So everyone is good. But Pujara in Tests is really difficult to bowl to”.
Meanwhile, Kuldeep Yadav has also done a fine job in the white ball format. The chinaman has thus far scalped 104 wickets in 60 ODI matches and he has snared 39 wickets in 20 T20I matches. Yadav has played only six Test matches in which he has taken 24 wickets.
Written by: Gautam Chauhan
