Pujara draws a blank

With Rahul Dravid’s failure, fans had pinned their hopes on Cheteshwar Pujara.

But the emerging talent, too, failed to shine, nicking an away going delivery from Sreesanth Aravind for 11. Saurashtra soon went into a shell and ended the day at a miserable 180 for nine in reply to Karnataka’s 305 on Day II of the Ranji Trophy quarterfinal match at the Brabourne Stadium on Saturday.

Resuming at 265 for eight, Karnataka tailenders did well to add another 40 runs in the morning session despite some lateral movement. R Vinay Kumar played a fluent innings of 48 before being shown the door by Jolly Jobanputra.

Saurashtra didn’t start too badly till Chirag Pathak was dismissed by Vinay Kumar for 24. Opening partner Bhushan Chauhan followed suit also at personal score of 24.

When much was expected of Pujara, seamers Vinay and Balchandra Akhil bowled an immaculate line outside the off-stump with a bit of lateral movement.

Pujara, who has scored three triple tons this season and has more than 750 runs under his belt already, disappointed with his over-cautious approach.

Soon an away going delivery from Aravind kissed his bat and landed into the gloves of diving Thilak Naidu. That wasn’t an unplayable delivery but it looked like one as Pujara had already committed to the shot and couldn’t withdraw at the last moment.

Another Saurashtra hope, southpaw Jaydev Shah, failed to rise to the occasion as he was castled by Akhil for one.

Ravindra Jadeja, however, took up the responsibility in the absence of his colleagues. He scored 38 off 98 balls which included six hits to the fences.