Warm-up Match / Why did Cheteshwar Pujara bat for both teams in ongoing India vs Leicestershire warm-up game

Cricket | In England, a practice match is being played between India and Leicestershire. Today is the third day of the match. India had scored 246 for 8 in their first innings, in response to which Leicestershire were dismissed for 244 in their first innings. Meanwhile, India posted a score of 264 for 7 in their second innings till tea time. The special feature of the third day in the match was that Indian batsman Cheteshwar Pujara batted for both the teams.

Pujara also came out to bat during India's second innings on Saturday against Leicestershire. Pujara, who came to bat at number eight, scored 22 runs. He was dismissed by Shardul Thakur. Earlier, he came out to bat at number seven against Leicestershire in the first innings, where he was dismissed without opening an account. He was made his victim by Mohammed Shami.

To ensure that all players of the Indian team got a chance to play in the practice match, four Indian players – Pujara, Rishabh Pant, Jasprit Bumrah, and Pranbhav Krishna – were placed in Leicestershire's playing XI while three Indian net bowlers Navdeep Saini, R Sai Kishore and Kamlesh Nagarkoti also fielded for Leicestershire and bowled for them in the second innings. It happens in most of the street cricket that a batsman sometimes bats for both the teams, but seeing Pujara batting for both the teams, the cricket fans also got confused.

Talking about Pujara, this match is not officially first class. After being dismissed early in the first innings, the team management felt that Pujara needed to spend more time at the crease, perhaps because he was asked to bat for the other team in the second innings. The warm-up match is the last chance for both the teams to prepare for the one-off Test starting July 1.