AUS vs IND: Cheteshwar Pujara shares concerns about India’s bowling attack ahead of MCG Test

Ahead of Thursday, December 26th, the fourth Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT 2024-25), Cheteshwar Pujara seems a little uneasy about the Indian bowling attack and its capacity to eliminate Australia twice. According to Pujara, India’s middle and lower order have contributed to make up for the difficulties faced by the top-order batsmen, making the batting appear superior to the bowling.

The Saurashtra batsman, nevertheless, didn’t appear very optimistic about India’s ability to take 20 Australian wickets in a Test match. He gave the Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, and Jasprit Bumrah fast-bowling troika high marks. However, I wasn’t entirely satisfied with how all-rounders Nitish Kumar Reddy and Ravindra Jadeja performed.

“The Indian bowling appears to be a touch feeble, which is my main concern and the cause for some worry. The middle order and lower middle order, including Ravindra Jadeja, Nitesh, and even tail enders Bumrah and Akash Deep, helped with the bat, but the top five didn’t perform well. Now that the bowling is weak, what will you feed the team? The most important question is: what will be the team combination since neither Nitish nor Jadeja can be dropped?

“I don’t think two spinners will play in Melbourne because Ashwin has retired,” Cheteshwar Pujara stated in an exclusive interview with Star Sports.

“So, how are you going to improve the bowling? Although all three seamers are excellent, Nitesh Kumar and Ravindra Jadeja play supporting roles as the fourth and fifth seamers, respectively. The bowling isn’t that excellent when you combine the two. We will need to consider that because you need to take 20 wickets to win a test match, and the other bowlers’ supporting roles and ability to take 20 wickets are both lacking. Therefore, we will need to improve that as soon as possible. I’m not sure how that will be, but it’s a big question,” he continued.

Before the Boxing Day Test, the BGT 2024–25 series is evenly positioned at 1-1.

In the meantime, the five-match BGT 2024–25 series is interestingly balanced at 1-1. Australia recovered parity in Adelaide but Team India won in Perth. The final two Test matches were well-positioned after the third Test in Brisbane ended in a tie. Notably, the fourth test is scheduled to be a special “Boxing Day” event.

The Indian team had defeated Australia in the famous stadium in their last two trips to the Australian coast. In the forthcoming match, the Australian team will try to regain their honour by having their name written against the victory column, while the Indian team will aim for a hat-trick of victories in Melbourne.