Mohammad Rizwan reveals how Cheteshwar Pujara’s magical advice helped him get back into form in the County Championship

Pakistan and India’s stalwarts, Mohammad Rizwan and Cheteshwar Pujara are currently playing for Sussex in the County Championship 2022 in England. The duo recently made headlines after stitching a valuable 145-run partnership against Durham.

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Rizwan scored 79 runs in 145 balls in that game, while Pujara went on to score a double-century for the team. However, before that knock, M Rizwan struggled to score runs in the tournament. But a valuable piece of advice from Pujara helped the Pakistan batsman regain his form.

Mohammad Rizwan recently opened up on the advice Pujara gave him to help him get back into form. He revealed that India’s Test veteran advised him to play close to the body as the bowl swings more than how much the ball moves in the sub-continent.

“With Pujara, I had a chat with him after I got out early. He told me a few things, and one of them was to play close to the body. And as everyone knows, we have been playing white-ball cricket consistently over the past few years and play a bit away from our body. You don’t play very close to your body in white-ball since the ball doesn’t swing or seam as much,” Rizwan told Cricwick.

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“So early on here, I played away from my body and got out twice similarly. Then I went over to meet him in the nets, and I remember him saying that when we play in Asia, we force the ball to play the drive. Here, we don’t need to do that. And we need to play close to the body. I have played white ball cricket consistently. So these are the things which he told me, and whatever he learned from me, he can tell ,” he added.

Cheteshwar Pujara, on the other hand, has been nothing short of outstanding in the ongoing County Championship. Playing his debut stint for Sussex, Cheteshwar Pujara has managed to score 717 runs in 4 matches at a staggering average of 143.40. He is currently the second highest run-scorer in the competition.