Cheteshwar Pujara’s poor run with Yorkshire continued after the India batsman was dismissed for nine in his side’s County Championship clash with Essex.
In a remarkable first session of the Division One match at Chelmsford, Yorkshire were bowled out for just 50 after skipper Garry Balance won the toss and elected to bat first.
Trapped in front of the wickets, Pujara was Essex pacer Jamie Porter’s sole wicket on a day that belonged to young Samuel Cook. The 20-year-old’s five-wicket haul destroyed the Yorkshire batting card which included the likes of Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow apart from Balance and Pujara.
Remarkably, Pujara’s score of nine was the second highest score for Yorkshire with only Ballance doing better with 22 runs to his name.
Pujara was dismissed for under 10 runs for the fourth time in five innings for Yorkshire.
Cheteshwar Pujara in county cricket this year
— Jasveer Singh Kharra (@imjsk27) May 4, 2018
2, 18, 7, 6, 9
42 runs in 5 innings
Since 2017
12, 14, 0, 4, 28, 34, 18 , 2, 18, 7, 6, 9
152 runs @ 12.7 in 12 innings@cheteshwar1
The 30-year-old had signed up for the county side after missing out on a deal in the ongoing IPL. He is among three Indian cricketers currently playing in England’s domestic competition with pacers Ishant Sharma and Varun Aaron turning out for Sussex and Leicestershire respectively.
They will now be joined by India skipper Virat Kohli who signed a deal with Surrey on Thursday. Kohli will turn out for the south London outfit for the entire month of June after completing his IPL engagements. He will hence miss Afghanistan’s historic first Test against India which is slated to take place in June in Bengaluru.
