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Pujara wages lone battle as India totter at 74/5 on Day 2 (Roundup)

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Kolkata, Nov 17 (IANS) Waging a lonely battle, Chesteshwar Pujara was three short of his 16th half century as India were reduced to 74/5 when early lunch was called due to rain and more downpour axed Day Two of the first Test at the Eden Gardens here on Friday.

Only 105 minutes of play was possible on the second day in the morning session before the skies opened up.

Lunch had to be called early after rain interrupted play half hour before the break.

Pujara (47 off 102; 4×9) held fort at one end beginning the day on eight runs. The other overnight batsman, Ajinkya Rahane (4 off 21; 1×4), failed to get going and eventually fell to Dasun Shanaka (2/23) playing a poor shot as 21 overs were bowled in the first session.

Ashwin (4 off 21) was also guilty of a naive drive as India failed to recover from their overnight score of 17/3.

Suranga Lakmal, who returned magnificent figures of 6-6-0-3 on the rain-affected first day, conceded his first runs after 46 deliveries off the bat of Rahane, who three overs later fell prey to Shanaka.

Lakmal still had great figures to show for, leaking just five runs in 11 overs and bowling nine maidens and taking three wickets.

On day two, a tempted delivery outside the off-stump took a thin edge off Rahane’s bat to wicketkeeper Niroshan Dickwella as he tried to aimlessly drive through covers.

At 30/4, the hosts were in a spot with Pujara finding himself alone in the middle, tasked to bail the team out.

The in-form Saurashtra man played two exquisite off drives to Shanaka before taking on the same bowler a few overs later for another four.

Pujara looked supreme on the off side, hitting Shanaka and Lahiru Gamage for two more boundaries past mid-off area.

He was equally comfortable on the backfoot, punching a short and wide Karu.

While bowling all-rounder Ashwin struggled to settle in, taking a knock on his hand in the 25th over off Lahiru Gamage’s bowling before ending his ordeal in the next over. Gamage remained wicketless with figures of 11.5-3-24-0.

Trying to drive a length Shanaka delivery, the right-hander, returning to international cricket after three months, gave an easy catch to Dimuth Karunaratne at backward point.

Later, Wriddhiman Saha, who also looked uncomfortable with the extra bounce on the wicket, went into the break unbeaten on 6 from 22 balls.

–IANS
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Sunil Gavaskar gives his opinion of GT allrounder Rahul Tewatia

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The left-handed batsman from Haryana is garnering praise from all quarters for the way he’s finishing games regularly in the most exciting IPL season.

Gavaskar reckons Tewatia’s whirlwind knock in Sharjah (in IPL 2020) where he smashed West Indies pacer Sheldon Cottrell for five sixes in an over, gave him the confidence that he belongs to the big stage.

Speaking on Cricket Live on Star Sports, Gavaskar said, “That assault on Sheldon Cottrell in Sharjah gave him the belief to do the impossible and the confidence that he belongs here. We saw the impossible (he did with the bat) the other day as well. There’s no twitching or touching the pads (which shows a batter’s nervousness) when he bats in the death overs. He just waits for the ball to be delivered and plays his shots. He’s got all the shots in the book, but most importantly his temperament to stay cool in a crisis is brilliant.”

Gavaskar has also nicknamed the 28-year-old cricketer the ‘ice-man’ and lauded Tewatia’s ability to remain unruffled during the tense moments.

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