Soon after India beat Afghanistan comprehensively inside two days, Cheteshwar Pujara packed his bags in a hurry, travelled for 8,200 kilometres to Southampton from Bengaluru and stepped straight into the Royal London One-Cup second semi-final. All this for just four deliveries.
Pujara, who was summoned by his county side Yorkshire for their semi-final encounter against Hampshire, was sent back by Dale Steyn for a duck. Steyn bowled a scorcher of a delivery to catch Pujara off guard, who could only manage to fend it towards Adams at second slip. For a moment the match shifted to Test-mode as Steyn extracted extra bounce from an otherwise placid track in a hostile spell of fast bowling to remove India’s No. 3.
Pujara had a terrific season, scoring three half-centuries and a ton in the Royal London One-Day cup, perhaps that was the reason why Yorkshire felt the need to get back Pujara’s services as soon as he was free from Test match duties. However, it was of no use as Yorkshire was Knocked out by Hampshire.
Batting first, Hampshire posted a mammoth 348 for 9 powered by a talismanic innings from captain James Vince (171). in reply, Yorkshire folded for 241 and Hampshire won by 107 runs. Hampshire will now meet Kent in the finals.