Mitchell Starc's Wife Makes Big Cheteshwar Pujara Revelation, Says "He Drained..."

As Cheteshwar Pujara hangs up his boots in professional cricket, there are doubts about whether the world will ever see a batter of his skill set on the international stage. Pujara famously faced 1258 deliveries over 7 innings during India's tour of Australia in 2018-19, playing a pivotal role in the team's maiden Test triumph Down Under. The batter did something similar during the 2020-21 tour, as India won the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia again. But, is it all over for his breed of batters in fast-paced T20-styled cricket?

Australian women's cricketer Alyssa Healy, who saw her husband Mitchell Starc engage in numerous battles against Pujara, admitted that not many cricketers today have the mental fortitude like Pujara.

"I don't have the mental fortitude to be able to do that. When you put it like that, that's wild," Healy said on the "Willow Talk" podcast.

"And he was a huge part of those two series wins against Australia, because he kept that bowling attack out and drained them and made them work so hard.

"And I think by the end of it, they just stopped trying to get him out and tried to get the other end out because they just figured it was too hard."

Healy recalled how Australia batters like Nathan McSweeney and Marnus Labuschagne struggled to show their game against India during the last encounter between the two sides. The idea these days, hence, has evolved from settling in the middle to scoring runs.

"I wouldn't have thought so. I think more often now it's how do I score? And you still look at Test cricket now, we spoke about it last summer, like McSweeney (Nathan) came in and sort of got stuck, Marnus (Labuschagne) came in, got stuck, and all we spoke about was they need to look to score first.

Healy also said it's tough for the world of cricket to see a batter like Pujara ever again, considering the shift that the sport has witnessed over the last few years.

"Whereas I think that conversation has changed over the years. It probably used to be, how do we keep him out? How do I bat for long periods of time? So no, I don't think we necessarily will see someone like that again.

"But you think about the guys in world cricket at the moment who play similar sorts of roles - Joe Root, Steve Smith in our group. They play a similar sort of anchor role and let the guys sort of flourish around them, which I think is a really important."

Topics mentioned in this article

India Cricket Team Australia Cricket Team Cheteshwar Pujara Alyssa Healy Mitchell Starc Cricket