ENG vs IND: Michael Vaughan points out a similarity between Cheteshwar Pujara and Inzamam-ul Haq

While Day 3 of the ongoing fourth Test between England and India at The Oval belonged to Rohit Sharma owing to his fantastic innings of 127, cricketer-turned-expert Michael Vaughan found enough time to find a similarity with India’s number three batter Cheteshwar Pujara and former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq.

 Pujara as usual was grinding it in the middle along with Sharma, but his knock had a few stoppages as he twisted his ankle while taking a single. The doctors immediately rushed to check on Pujara, who returned to batting after his ankle was heavily strapped. Luckily for India, he was not feeling any discomfort while batting and continued to bat before he was out for a well-made 61.

Vaughan, who was commentating during the Test match, feels Pujara has many traits similar to former Pakistan batter Inzamam-ul-Haq. “From knowing Pujara a bit from his time at Yorkshire, he’s a bit like me and, I wouldn’t say that fielding is high up on his list of priorities. It’ll be an injury in that ankle that if there’s any prospect of him taking a bit of time off the field, he will take it. There’s a few around who used to be like that Inzamam is one who comes to mind,” Vaughan said on the BBC Test Match Special.  

Vaughan also spoke about the English bowlers and felt there was a lack of intent from them that helped India edge ahead in the match.

“It just feels that this England attack is very similar. It’s a concern when the ball’s not moving around that much as a batter you can’t get used to it. Everything’s almost the same pace. There isn’t a go-to bowler to rough Pujara up,” Vaughan added.