Kingston, July 29:Ahead of the second Test against West Indies, Indian middle-order batsman Cheteshwar Pujara has brushed aside concerns about his form, saying he is not anxious as long as he is contributing well to the team’s success. And at the same time, I realised I played a bad shot in the last Test match when I was looking good.
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“I don’t necessarily have a problem with that, however, during team meetings, I try to encourage other players that it is not only for senior players to get the job done, but they, too, need to do deliver as well”. “Overall the team did well and I am really happy with the way things are going”. When India played South Africa at home last year, the 28-year-old could hit just one fifty in seven innings. “I personally don’t expect the wicket to look like the practice pitches at the square here”.
“It’s a Test team and Test cricket is big man cricket, and players should know that by now that they are here.We all have to step up to the plate and put up a better challenge to the Indians, who are very good. I think if we play to our potential there is a good chance of winning the series”.
Samuels, who scored one and 50, says it is time he raised his test batting to the level of his performances in Twenty20 and One Day Internationals. “That’s the target now starting from the second Test but the bigger goal is to win the series”, said Pujara. “We have a simple goal, we want to win”. Conservative team selection at the start of a Test series is commonsense, but this hardly means that Pujara can take his place in the XI for granted in the coming three Test matches.
Pujara also expressed his views on his side’s biggest win outside Asia by an innings and 92 runs that also saw the visitors take one-nil lead in the four-match series against the Caribbean side. We just need to continue doing what we have been doing well and there have been many partnerships from the last game.
West Indies as a whole and Samuels, in particular, has been in pretty good nick in the shorter formats of the game, most notably winning the 2016 World T20 held in India with Samuels putting in a Man-of-the-Match winning performance.
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Former West Indies, Leeward Islands and Antiguan fast bowler, Winston Benjamin (left), The young Antiguan received his maiden call-up on Wednesday and could debut in the second Test against India in Jamaica. “As I said, it’s a great opportunity, not only for me, but for the team to make a turnaround and come here and play some positive cricket and put up not just a challenge but a fight”, he said.
