Cheteshwar Pujara’s big statement on India’s T20 defeat, said – poor fielding and lack of all-rounder became the reason for the defeat.

New Delhi: Former Indian cricket team batsman Cheteshwar Pujara has given his opinion on the reasons for the crushing defeat in the T20 International series against England. According to Pujara, major shortcomings like weak middle order, lack of an effective all-rounder and poor fielding were responsible for the disappointing performance of Team India.

India had to go through a difficult phase in the T20 series on Britain tour. England defeated India 4-0 in the five-match T20 series. Earlier, the Indian team had also lost both the matches against Ireland.

Middle order weakness becomes a big problem

Cheteshwar Pujara said while talking to GeoHotstar that England had such batsmen till number five, sixth, seventh and eighth, who made important contributions to the team.

He said that the Indian team had players like Tilak Verma at number five and Shivam Dubey at number six, but they could not perform as effectively as the middle-order batsmen of England.

According to Pujara, it is very important to have a strong middle order in T20 cricket, because these batsmen help the team to score a big score or achieve the target in the last overs of the match.

Concern expressed over lack of all-rounder

The former Indian batsman also termed the lack of a reliable all-rounder in the team as a big problem. He said that in the current era of T20 cricket, such players are very important who can contribute to the team with both bat and ball.

Pujara believes that while preparing the future T20 team, India will have to focus on such players who can provide balance in every department.

Pujara expressed displeasure over poor fielding

Cheteshwar Pujara also raised questions on the fielding ability of the Indian team. He said that despite being a young team, poor fielding cannot be accepted under any circumstances.

He said that the role of fielding is very important in T20 cricket, because one catch or stopping a run can change the course of the match. But during the entire series, the fielding of the Indian team appeared weak, which is a matter of concern.

Young team needs improvement

Pujara admitted that it was a young team and could not perform as per expectations in batting and bowling, but there was need to improve on fundamental things like fielding.

He said that the Indian team will have to work on its shortcomings and prepare better for the upcoming matches.

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