Cheteshwar Pujara shares advice for Yashasvi Jaiswal ahead of Boxing Day Test, says batter is trying to rush things

India’s veteran batter Cheteshwar Pujara has advised Yashasvi Jaiswal to show more patience in the early stages of his innings in the fourth Test against Australia. Pujara feels Jaiswal is trying to rush things, which is leading to his downfall in the ongoing Test series.

Barring scoring an emphatic knock of 161 at Perth, Jaiswal has returned with scores of 0, 0, 24, 4, 4* in the ongoing Test series. Australia’s gun fast bowler Mitchell Starc has continuously troubled Jaiswal in his first spell and Pujara wants the left-hander to show more resistance.

Cheteshwar Pujara said on Star Sports, “He needs to give himself a bit more time, the way he is playing, he is trying to rush things, he is trying to play shots a bit more. He should only play shots if he is quite sure about it, especially in the first 5–10 overs because it seems that he is in a hurry to score runs, he wants a quick start, and he wants to score those first 15–20 runs quickly.”

“When you are an opener in Test cricket then you don’t go out searching for the ball, you play the deliveries on merit. Even if you are an aggressive player, even Virender Sehwag was an aggressive player, but he used to play shots only when the ball was pitched in his zone.”

Pujara added that Jaiswal is trying to drive at deliveries, which are not pitched up and thus he is getting nicked off.

“There are a lot of aggressive batters and openers in Test cricket today, but they play the shots when the ball is pitched in the hitting zone, but here it looks like Yashasvi is trying to convert the shots, he is trying to drive the deliveries which are not pitched up,” said Pujara.

“He needs to be a bit calm, he needs to spend a bit more time, if he will show some confidence in his defence then that’s when he’ll come across some shot-playing deliveries because the moment when you show some respect to the bowlers and you defend well then they’ll look forward to getting a wicket and gradually they’ll start pitching the ball a bit up and that’s when you can play those drives.”

The fourth Test match between India and Australia will be played at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground from 26th December.