“More fearless in my approach”: Cheteshwar Pujara explains reason behind Royal London Cup 2022 run-spree for Sussex

Cheteshwar Pujara explains reason for his purple patch of form in the ongoing Royal London One-Day Cup 2022 in England.

A yet another century in the ongoing Royal London One-Day Cup 2022 for Sussex, has meant that Cheteshwar Pujara has helped his side march on towards the tournament semi-final, set to be played on August 30.

Smashing his third century across eight innings yesterday, against Middlesex this time around, the 34-year-old surpassed the three-figure mark off mere 76 deliveries, to ultimately score a classy 90-ball 132.

Thus, after posting 400/4 on the scoreboard, Sussex restricted the Middlesex batting line-up to 243 in 38.1 Overs, to win the contest by 157 runs, and with it, top Group ‘A’, with six wins out of eight matches.

Fans took to social media post his aforementioned ton, as he also completed 5,000 List-A runs across 109 innings, at an average of 57.76.

Cheteshwar Pujara explains reason for his purple patch of form

The Saurashtra batter, post yesterday’s innings, ranks second in the tournament’s highest run-getter this season, with 614 runs under his belt at an average of 102.3, constituting 3 centuries and a couple of half-centuries.

However, scoring these runs at a strike-rate of 116.28, has emerged as a major talking point, for a batter who is considered a ‘Test-match specialist’, and having not played a single limited Overs match since only his 5th ODI in 2014 against Zimbabwe.

Perhaps after soaking in all the words of praises and congratulatory messages, Pujara took to his Twitter handle a few hours ago, to begin a question and answer session with his followers for a period of half-an-hour.

One of his followers queried regarding a possible change in his technique or mindset while approaching an ODI game, which has paved the way for his brilliant run in the ongoing tournament.

As a response to the question, Pujara stated that he has adopted a more fearless approach, while also adding a few more shots to his game.

He also admitted that the popularity of the ODI format has indeed received a dent, as talks around the sustenance of the format has been questioned off-late, especially in relation with the rise in number and popularity of the various T20 leagues around the world.

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