How dare you, IPL franchises? How dare you not buy Aaron Finch?

Cheteshwar Pujara is here to ‘grind out’ results for Chennai Super Kings 

SC Take: Before I begin, let me say that I, like the entire cricketing fraternity, from a personal standpoint, am chuffed that Pujara finally managed to get an IPL team - he deserves all the cash that comes his way for the shift he’s put in for the country. But throwing emotions aside, it is important to call a spade a spade. In other words, it is high time that we stop bulls******* and acknowledge that CSK’s purchase of Pujara is terrible and makes no sense. That Pujara’s solidity will be invaluable on square-turners in Chepauk seems to be the go-to justification for his signing, but this argument pretty much ignores the fact that there will be no games played in Chepauk this year. But even in the case of matches being held in Chepauk, it’s not like the venue will dish out raging turners in which batsmen cannot put bat to ball, you know? 5 of the 8 games in Chepauk in IPL 2019 saw teams batting first post a 150+ score. 

Pujara has an IPL career SR of 99.74 and an overall T20 SR of 109.35 - forgetting his reputation, you have to be crazy to think that such numbers warrant an IPL contract. Yeah he might have a T20 ton to his name, but that knock was an anomaly; that doesn’t equate to him being a good T20 batsman, you know? Even Umesh Yadav has scored a first-class ton. Just saying. 

On the back of his stunning, match-winning fourth innings ton versus Tasmania, fans and experts have called for the recall of Usman Khawaja, who they feel was axed unfairly.

SC Take: “What are Australia doing? They should have picked Usman Khawaja. Shocking.” was the most popular misinformed opinion during the India series and now, on the back of his ton versus Tasmania, the same cries have grown louder. It is indeed heart-warming to see Uzzie back in the runs, but two things need to be understood - one, that he was axed ‘unfairly’ is a myth and two, he has done nothing to warrant a recall. At least until now. 

Coming to what he’s done to ‘warrant’ a recall, Khawaja averaged 18.36 across 7 games in the 2019/20 Shield season. He’s started this season off brilliantly, having already struck two tons in 4 matches, but he needs to sustain this form to make his way back into the team. So while the signs are encouraging, let us not jump the gun and pretend like Khawaja is the unluckiest man in Australia or something. 

Prithvi Shaw is back!

SC Take: So, Prithvi Shaw is ready to dominate the world again. A match-winning, unbeaten 105 against a pretty strong Delhi attack - on the back of scores of 0, 0, 7, 10, 9, 0, 0, 19, 40, 3, 0 and 4 - is impressive and it does signal that after four long months, he’s finally found his form and mojo back. How I wish the above statement is true, though. 

While Shaw being back in the runs is encouraging news, let us not get ahead of ourselves here - the point is, he has NEVER found it difficult to bully bowlers on the domestic circuit; not even with that dodgy technique of his. He torched bowlers in SMAT, Vijay Hazare, and Ranji last season too and he is pretty much an invincible commodity on flat wickets back home which rarely test batsmen’s technique. We obviously do not have any footage so it is impossible to know ‘how’ Shaw went about scoring, but all these runs will really count for nothing if he’s not ironed out his technique. Make no mistake, scoring an abundance of runs in domestic cricket is a stellar achievement and it definitely counts for something, but in the case of Shaw, it is perhaps wise to wait before jumping to conclusions.