Shreyas Iyer And Co Served Huge Warning By Ex-India Star Ahead Of 4th T20I vs West Indies

Cheteshwar Pujara has urged India not to go all guns blazing from the start in search of 260-270.© AFP

As India aim to clinch the T20I series against the West Indies on Wednesday, former batter Cheteshwar Pujara has urged the team not to go all guns blazing from the start in search of a total of 260-270. India will take on the West Indies in the fourth T20I in Hyderabad, aiming to take an unassailable 3-1 lead in the series. Speaking ahead of the match, Pujara insisted that the focus should be on building small partnerships and attacking the opposition after assessing the conditions on offer.

"They will have to ensure that they focus on small partnerships. When you lose a wicket in a T20, you just focus on 5, 10 and 15-run partnership. If you have that, then you are delaying the next wicket fall. You respect the conditions, you respect the pitch and then look at the target," Pujara said during an interaction on ESPNcricinfo.

Pujara explained that building a strong foundation is key, rather than stepping out with a premeditated aim of posting 260-270 on the board.

"When you get off to a good start, the tough part for a middle order is to figure out what is a good total. Sometimes, you try and put too much pressure on yourself as a batter. You should not get carried away by looking at 260-270 because, in that process, you try playing too many shots. So, you try and play good cricket till 15th over and then you try and maximize the last 5 overs if you have wickets in hand," he added.

Pujara also noted that the Indian bowling unit would be far more confident this time after successfully defending a competitive total in the previous match.

"After Indore's game, the batters would have learnt their lessons. Also, they would have gained a lot of confidence that our bowling unit can defend 220. So, they don't need to go too hard. They don't need to look at 250-260 all the time if they are batting first. But I think at Hyderabad whoever wins the toss, they will still prefer to bowl first," said Pujara.

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