ING vs ENG: You cannot win the series with one day’s net practice, former Indian batsman warned Team India.

New Delhi. Former cricketer Cheteshwar Pujara has advocated for bowler-friendly pitches in India, as he believes that playing on flat pitches at home is adversely affecting the ability of Indian batsmen to adapt to the seaming conditions in countries like England. Indian batsmen struggled against bounce and movement, losing the T20I series to England 0-4, while losing to Ireland 0-2. The Indian batsmen were not short on form, having arrived in the UK after an IPL season that was dominated by high-scoring matches, but struggled to adapt to the change in conditions.

Pujara believes that this can only be avoided by ensuring a better balance between bat and ball on the pitches available here. “Even in IPL, you don’t want matches where teams can chase 260 easily. There has to be something for the bowlers,” Pujara said on ‘Geostar’. “In T20 cricket, the margin of error is already very small, especially on flat pitches with short boundaries, while batsmen are becoming stronger and more innovative.” “So it is important to have pitches that provide a bit of assistance to the bowlers, whether through some turn or a bit of movement in the first two or three overs.

It is not possible to win or lose by hitting a six.

Pujara also pointed out that the Indian T20 batting group has very little white-ball experience in English conditions despite their IPL exploits. “In England, you can’t just rely on hitting sixes. You have to play more flat-batted shots, reach straight boundaries and use options like upper cuts and cuts over point against the short ball. We didn’t see enough of those shots, and I think it was largely due to lack of experience in these conditions.

Familiarity with the situation is necessary

The Indian team made a strong start in the ODI series against England on Tuesday, winning comfortably by six wickets. The ODI team led by Shubman Gill also got a boost from the return of stalwarts like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah. Pujara said that the return of Rohit and Virat especially brings much-needed peace and confidence to the team. He said, “What Rohit and Virat will bring is calmness and confidence, and that only comes with experience. The T20I team lacked experience, so having players who have performed consistently against England in Tests, ODIs and T20Is will give confidence to the dressing room because they know how to win.