New Delhi: Cheteshwar Pujara is called the backbone of the batting of the Indian Test team. Pujara, the man who was central to India’s defence during the early part of the fourth and final day’s match played a key role in the victory against Australia.
As India were chasing a record target of 328 and he made sure he took the loss out of the equation by being a rock in the middle, facing the Aussies. Despite not being among the highest scorers, Pujara spent a considerable time on the field.
Pujara’s knock of 56 in the last Test in Brisbane was extremely important for India in their run-chase. In a recent media interaction, the 32-year-old batsman talked about his experience in the Test and said having attacking players like Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill allowed him to play his natural game.
“Both of them are attacking players. That does help me in some way. If another partner is trying to take the bowler on, it allows me to play my natural game. I have batted with Viru pajji (Sehwag) also, where he would have already put the opposition under pressure with his batting. That’s a great way to build a partnership,” he said.
Like every other sport, cricket also came to an abrupt in March last year because of the coronavirus lockdown. Covid-19 forced the stoppage of all tournaments and series in India. Pujara therefore, got no match practice before he went to Australia. He revealed he couldn’t play any cricket for nearly 10 months in 2020 due to the lockdown.
In the meantime, he trained every single day during which was in effect for months. “During the lockdown, I was training every single day and it helped me become fitter because we played 4 Tests and there were so many injuries. I was expecting this because in Australia… last two tours, I knew it wouldn’t be easy. When you are playing 4 Tests on big grounds, it’s never easy. So you need to keep yourself fit, train enough,” he added.
Asked about the gritty half-century in the second innings of the final Test he said “It was a tough innings. I can’t recall any innings in which I was hit all over my body so many times, but I was very determined that I didn’t want to give my wicket away. As a team we had a gameplan, and personally, I wanted to bat the first session well. I knew that if we started well, it was a two and a half-hour session, we were expecting 35–37 overs in that session.”
However, him occupying the crease tired out the Aussie bowlers which made it easier for the visitors. He also praised the Aussie bowlers for the strategy they deployed against him throughout the four Tests on this tour.
“Credit also goes to the Australian team because they did a lot of homework on what I did on the last series there. It wasn’t easy to break that gameplan but after a couple of Test matches I found my rhythm, concentration back, I trusted what I was doing and I was able to score runs in the last two Tests,” he added.
