Cheteshwar Pujara reflected on the day when he was carrying drinks and David Warner approached him to poke him, which gave rise to a healthy rivalry between the two.
Indian batsman Cheteshwar Pujara has revealed an interesting incident about his on-field exchange with former Australia’s star opener David Warner. Both the players have faced each other in a number of Test matches, particularly in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Both Pujara and David are known for their supreme batting abilities, but in between their rivalry, they have also engaged many light-hearted sledges.
In a conversation with Star Sports, Pujara shared his story about the long-standing rivalry with Warner. Pujara stated that Warner poked him when he was carrying drinks during a Test series in Australia. After that day, both of them have engaged in a lot of verbal battles throughout their career.
Pujara also spoke about their healthy rivalry and agreed that he responded to Warner poking him and engaged in a banter whenever they faced each other on the field. Pujara also pointed out one special tactic, where he would imitate the bowling action of R. Ashwin’s bowling action in order to tease Warner.
“When I wasn’t in the Playing XI in 2014-15 (Border-Gavaskar Trophy) and was carrying drinks, he came into the field and said that you look good carrying the drinks. After that, our conversation started and I reminded him every time the because he used to get dismissed by Ashwin a lot of times, so I used to just carry the drinks and do something like this *Pujara imitates the bowling action of Ashwin at this point*,” Pujara said.
“I even told the bowlers that you just show this offspinner’s action and he will get out. I wanted to play the psychological game on him. Then, I also spoke to him at short leg but I won’t elaborate on that discussion here,” he further stated.
“After that incident, whenever David Warner visited India, I was always reminding him that you get out to Ashwin a lot of times and it affected him psychologically. There were a few occasions when we were travelling together and I used to encounter David Warner. I used to have so many conversations with David Warner that he went the other side after seeing my face and didn’t appear in front of me even when we were travelling together,” Pujara concluded.
This side of @cheteshwar1 😁🤌
Pujara taking on @davidwarner31 with mind games is something you wouldn’t wanna miss! 😁#AUSvINDOnStar 👉 3rd Test, Day 1, LIVE NOW! | #ToughestRivalry #BorderGavaskarTrophy #AdityaBirlaGroup #CricketLive pic.twitter.com/dCC7UitIMY
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) December 14, 2024
Warner did not have an out-of-ordinary track against Ashwin in Test cricket. Ashwin has dismissed Warner 11 times in the 32 matches they have played against each other. This has left Warner for a mere average of 21.81.
