Cheteshwar Pujara hails Harry Brook, likens him with Rishabh Pant

India’s solid batter Cheteshwar Pujara showered praise on England swashbuckling batter Harry Brook. The right-hander scored an attacking knock of 99 runs against India in the first innings of the opening Test at Leeds, Headingley, on Sunday.

Brook received a reprieve late on the second day’s play when Bumrah dismissed him with a bouncer but made a mistake of overstepping the crease. However, Brook opened his account with a boundary against Prasidh Krishna on the third day’s play and his second scoring shot was a monstrous six against the lanky pacer.

In the opening 30 minutes, Brook also charged Bumrah and smashed him through the off-side. The right-hander kept having the slice of luck on his side as he was dropped by Rishabh Pant when he was on 46 and received another life when his catch was fluffed by Yashasvi Jaiswal when he was 83.

“I can see a little bit of Rishabh Pant in him because he’s stepping down, although both have different approach, but both of them are fearless. Both of them are trying to disrupt bowler’s length, and they are trying to put pressure on back on the bowlers and that’s why that’s the key, because whenever the team is in trouble,” Pujara said of the England batter on Sony Sports Network.

“Those are the guys who put pressure back on the bowlers and take the game away from you very quickly. Harry Brook is one of them who bats very quickly. His strike rate is always on the higher side, which is always difficult for the opposition team,” he added.

Meanwhile, Brook could not reach his hundred as he was caught on 99 when he tried to hook Prasidh Krishna but could only find Shardul Thakur at deep fine-leg. England vice-captain Ollie Pope said Brook was gutted to miss out on the personal milestone.

“He was pretty gutted to get out. I think he’d either like to keep it down or hit it for six next time; he was as frustrated as anyone to get out but he plays that shot pretty well. It was an unbelievable knock. Even the pull shot he hit in the first over of the day, I was like ‘where did that come from? “His ability to flip a game – if he batted for another hour, we could have been in an amazing position, it shows the skill and power he has,” Pope said during the post-day press conference.

India ended the third day’s play at 90-2, leading by 96.