Agency :
Cheteshwar Pujara was struck on his helmet by a Neil Wagner bouncer in an attritional Day 2 of the WTC final in Southampton on Saturday. New Zealand’s Wagner was seen immediately going up to Pujara to check on him as the India physio also rushed out to check on him.
Pujara played 35 dot balls before getting off the mark with a boundary, but his 3rd wicket partnership with India skipper Virat did not last very long.
In the 37th over, Wagner bowled a 130 kph bouncer that smashed Pujara’s helmet and the protection on the back of the helmet was ripped off. Pujara shaped up to pull but missed the ball and it hit the grille of his helmet.
Pujara has been hit on the helmet the most times (7) since the start of 2018, two more than Ajinkya Rahane, Rory Burns and Marnus Labuschagne.
A few overs later, Pujara again missed the swing of the ball as Trent Boult produced some late inswing and India lost the big wicket of their Number 3 batsman for 8.
Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane are currently in the middle for India in the second session.
