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Australia find a plan for stubborn Pujara

3 minute read

Australia must build a playbook on how to crack India's wall Cheteshwar Pujara or else risk watching him bat for days on end again this summer.

Indian batsman CHETESHWAR PUJARA
Indian batsman CHETESHWAR PUJARA Picture: Stu Forster/Getty Images

Tim Paine used Plan A, Plan B and Plan C to break down India's wall on Sunday but after more than 25 hours of trying Australia have found a way to remove Cheteshwar Pujara.

In his first game in nine months, Pujara barely missed a beat against Australia A for the Indians at Sydney's Drummoyne Oval.

After spending more than 22 hours at the crease two years ago in Australia to help claim the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, he was there for another three-and-a-half hours on Sunday.

The Indian No.3 made 54 and soaked up 140 balls, with Paine behind the stumps and working closely with Australia A captain Travis Head.

And while his innings would have brought back unhappy memories, in his exit the pair showed there it is possible to crack him.

With Marcus Harris behind the wicket, James Pattinson tucked him up with a short ball and had him caught by Marcus Harris at leg gully.

It came after the right-hander fell in the exact same fashion at the MCG two years ago to Pat Cummins, in his only failure of that tour.

"We tried a few different things, different plans," Head said.

"It's nice at the end of the day one of them worked and one of the fielding placements we put in was able to get the breakthrough.

"I worked closely with Painey out there and tried a few different things, and continued talking and continued working on things.

"We're day one into this and it was our first crack at him, we've got another innings and then another game before the first Test so nice that one plan was able to work."

Head said the Australia A team had made a point of trying to suffocate Pujara, even if the 32-year-old shows few signs of growing impatient at the wicket.

With Virat Kohli going home after the first Test, removing Pujara could again become one of the toughest tasks of the summer for the hosts.

And again, they know they will have to come armed with multiple plans and not just rely on beating him with bounce.

"I think it depends on the wicket, who's bowling, how we feel like the wicket's playing," Head said.

"At the start we were trying to get him caught behind and caught in the slips, that was the way it was playing.

"But once the ball got softer it became more stump-to-stump.

"I guess you rotate through plans A. B and C and I think a lot determines on who's bowling and what type of wickets we're playing on."

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