I have learned from great Test batsmen, explains Cheteshwar Pujara

Pujara's contribution was really instrumental for the Indian cricket team as they managed to register a historic 2-1 win in the Test series which concluded earlier this month in Australia. Pujara scored 521 runs which included three hundreds by the No. 3 batsman. He faced as many as 1258 deliveries and played in his natural style by taking his own time to settle down in the middle.

Pujara has stated that his style of playing Test cricket is inspired by many greats of the format who have played Test cricket in the past. 

“I have just learned from the great batsmen who have played Test cricket in the past. Because of T20 and ODI cricket, players are playing too many shots. It is good to have some shots but at the same time you still need to respect this format of the game and bat accordingly,” Pujara told News 18. 

“I think the players, even the people who have followed this game have understood that there is still a requirement for the way I bat and I haven’t done anything extra.”

Pujara scored 193 in the final Test match that is his highest score of the series, but a hundred in winning cause in Adelaide in the first Test was important for the Saurashtra batsman. He scored 123 in the first and 71 in the second innings to help India take a 1-0 lead from the first game of the series. 

“The reason is it was the first Test match and when you are playing a four Test match series, I think it is always important to start off well,” the India No. 3 explained. 

“When you are 1-0 up, it is very difficult to lose a series from there. Obviously, you still need to play good cricket for the next three Test matches but I remember when we were 1-0 down in 2017 against Australia, that is the toughest time to make a comeback. As a team, you need to regroup, you need to think a lot on how to win that series. So, for me I think, yeah scoring that hundred in Adelaide in a tough situation is the best hundred I scored.”

Explaining about Rahul Dravid’s style of playing, Pujara mentioned, “Rahul bhai is someone who has scored more than 10000 runs, he is one of my idols and I don’t try and copy him but I try and learn a lot from him. I have spoken to him many times, he is someone who always has very good feedback when it comes to my game. Yeah, so that comparison is not right. I still haven’t scored 10000 runs and he has scored more than 10000 runs in Test and ODIs. I don’t think that comparison is right.”