Cheteshwar Pujara: If the Aussies sledge, we have our own plans as well

In the 2014 tour Down Under, the Indian team didn’t allow the Kangaroos to mount pressure with their sledging and instead countered them with some exciting cricket. Although India lost the series, they went down fighting valiantly. Pujara has said that they will adopt a similar approach when the Australian team tour India from the last week of February, in an exclusive interview with India Today.

You can't underestimate Australia. They play well at home and we do have an advantage here. But they always come up with some plan. So we will have the counter those. It will be challenging for Australia in India. If they sledge, I remember we had a plan to sledge them when we last went to Australia. It will be tough for them when they come here.

On being asked who will be the sledge-leader of the team, the Saurashtra batsman said, “We will decide that in the team meetings. Look it's all about winning the game and sledging is a part of that.”

With a fantastic century, Pujara piloted a come-from-behind six-wicket win for Rest of India against Ranji Trophy champions Gujarat in the Irani Cup. But the biggest challenge that has haunted him is his inability to score at a brisk pace in the T20 format, which he, of course, has sorted out to some extent in last year’s Syed Mushtaq Ali T20.

"I definitely want to make a mark in the Twenty20 format. I have done well in T20 matches. I played in the DY Patil T20 tournament [in Navi Mumbai] and got a hundred and two fifties. I am very confident that I can play well in other formats of the game."

"I am looking forward to playing in the IPL. I have prepared well, especially when it comes to T20, I have more number of shots . So probably I will play in domestic T20 tournaments. If I play well, surely there will be an opportunity."

"I just will have to keep playing other formats and keep scoring runs and probably I will have to wait for my opportunity. I am improving, playing more shots and playing with a higher strike rate. So probably that's [stamped as a Test specialist] just the tag, a perception that will change with time to come," he concluded.