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Former India captain and head coach Ravi Shastri made a light-hearted remark about one of India's finest Test batters ever, Cheteshwar Pujara, joking that the batter would have resisted practising the reverse-sweep during his playing days.
The playful exchange between Shastri and Pujara occurred during commentary when Shastri made the remark after watching Heinrich Klaasen switch-hit a delivery from Allah Ghazanfar for a huge six into the second tier of the Wankhede Stadium stands during the Mumbai Indians (MI) vs Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 match on Wednesday. Speaking on JioHotstar's 'Champions Waali Commentary', JioStar expert Ravi Shastri jokingly said that Cheteshwar Pujara would have strongly resisted practising the reverse-sweep during the former's coaching tenure. Notably, Shastri coached the Indian team from 2017 to 2021. Shastri said, "When I was a coach, Pujara, if I had told you to practise the reverse sweep three years ago, you would have come running after me with a bat. Isn't it?" Cheteshwar Pujara explained that the reverse sweep would not have suited his Test batting style, saying he likely would have been dismissed playing it and struggled to score runs with such an unorthodox shot. "Ravi bhai, if I had played such a shot in a Test match, I wouldn't have been able to score runs. All three of my stumps would have been knocked over, because it was very difficult for me to execute that shot," Pujara said. Pujara, with 7,195 Test runs for India in 103 matches, is hailed by many as one of the best-ever Test batters that India has produced. He was known during his career for his strong defensive technique and classical, textbook-style shot selection. The right-hand batter retired from all forms of cricket in August 2025. Coming to the MI vs SRH IPL 2026 match, the Sunrisers defeated the five-time IPL champions by six wickets after chasing down a massive score of 243. SRH, with the help of Travis Head (76 off 30 balls), Heinrich Klaasen (65* off 30 balls), Abhishek Sharma (45 off 24 balls) and Salil Arora (30* off 10 balls), chased down the massive total with eight balls remaining. Head and Abhishek formed a 129-run first-wicket partnership off just 52 balls, setting up a brilliant platform for the rest of the batting line-up. Earlier, the Mumbai Indians, on the back of a powerful 55-ball unbeaten 123-run knock off the bat of Ryan Rickelton, scored 243/5 in 20 overs after electing to bat first. (ANI)
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