Veteran South African pacer Dale Steyn was seemingly unimpressed with Cheteshwar Pujara’s style of negating the frontline pace attack of the New Zealand side in the final of the ICC World Test Championship on Saturday. A lot was expected from Pujara when India’s Numero Uno walked in to bat on Day 2 of the ongoing ICC World Test Championship final against Kane Williamson-led New Zealand at the Rose Bowl. 

Known for his ultra-defensive approach, Pujara was keen on frustrating the potent bowling unit of New Zealand in India’s first innings at Southampton. It took 36 balls for the premier batsman to get off the mark in India’s first essay against New Zealand at Southampton. Though Pujara faced more than 50 balls, the Indian batsman failed to get numbers on the board as he was removed by Trent Boult in the 41st over. 

Steyn, who is closely following the ongoing Test Championship final between India and New Zealand has opined that the premier batsman should have rotated strike a bit more in the 1st innings. “You want to see somebody like Pujara. Now he faced 50 balls and we know that this is kind of player that he is. But I’m sure if he looked back and looked at the sample of video analysis, he would find that there are deliveries there where he could have created the opportunity to maybe rotate a little bit more strike,” Steyn was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo. 

“I saw something come up and it was like 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 4, 4, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 and then a wicket. I’m sure in all those 50 balls, he could have rotated strike and just gotten that scoring to nudge on a little bit for himself and as well as his team.” Steyn added. One of the finest Indian batsmen in the longest and oldest format, Pujara only managed to score 8 off 54 balls against New Zealand in the Test Championship final.