Ind vs Aus | One of my best Test innings, asserts Cheteshwar Pujara

Cheteshwar Pujara made 123 runs at a healthy strike rate of fifty to save the visitors from another horrible start to a Test series. Earlier this year, India had made a similar start to the Test series in England and could never really recover after that losing the series 1-4. But this time a century from the number three batsman and some handy runs from lower-middle order gave India a respectable score of 250 runs at the loss of nine wickets at the end of the day’s play.

"It was one of my top innings in Test cricket, I could say top five. I can't rate whether it was one of the best but the teammates who were appreciating said that this is one of the best," he said after Day 1.

Pujara got out on what ended as the last ball of the day to a brilliant Pat Cummins direct hit sending him to the pavilion. Pujara did not have a good England series except for one century and a half-century he scored and hence he asserted that he is equally competent in both on foreign pitches and on the home soil.

"I was a bit disappointed but I had to take that single because only the last two balls were left and I thought I should be on strike, so I took the chance but he fielded brilliantly," he explained.

"It means a lot (the century), but I would also like to say that people say that I've scored more runs in India. But at the same time you need to look at the number of matches we play in India. So I will obviously score runs there." 

Pujara also credited his county stint to the success he had. Pujara has had two stints as an overseas player for county side Yorkshire, in 2015 and again recently. Not only that, he has also played for Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire.

"At times I've had bad phases playing overseas but I still feel very confident when it comes to different conditions. Playing county cricket has helped me a lot, and playing in England conditions are always challenging and when you come to Australia you know that it is slightly better. "And as I said, I had a pretty decent time to prepare before this Test series,” he concluded.