Saurashtra recently won its first-ever Ranji Trophy title and among many things that did get noticed, one was Pujara’s slow batting. Always criticized for his low intensity as a batter, Pujara shut the mouth of the trolls, saying that his focus is on winning matches, not on the trolls of social media.
“You can’t bat for social media. Many of them don’t understand my game and Test cricket because they see more white-ball cricket. Yaar yeh toh bahut bore kar raha hai, kitna ball khel raha hai (He is boring us, how many balls does he need). Please understand one thing, my aim is not to entertain someone, my aim is to win for my team, be it for India or Saurashtra. Some days I bat fast, some days I bat slowly. I respect cricket lovers and crowd, I’m not someone who can hit sixes. I try to avoid social media, I don’t follow social media when I am playing. I am not batting for entertainment,” Pujara said in an interview with Indian Express.
Pujara made a valiant 60 off 200 balls in the first innings. His knock proved more than enough for a first-innings lead against Bengal.