"Whatever you say about Cheteshwar Pujara will be less" - Sunil Gavaskar
Sunil Gavaskar believes Cheteshwar Pujara deserves the utmost praise for putting his body on the line for the Indian cricket team.
Cheteshwar Pujara took numerous blows on the body, including an extremely painful one on the index finger of his right hand. But he soldiered on to score a priceless 56 runs. In the process, he played out 211 deliveries to tire the Aussie bowlers.
During a post-match discussion on the Sony Sports network, Zaheer Khan noted that while Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant played brilliant knocks, Cheteshwar Pujara too had made a crucial contribution in the Indian run chase.
The former Indian pacer asked Sunil Gavaskar about the importance of the 32-year-old's innings.
The latter said that Pujara's contribution cannot be described in words. He lauded the India No. 3 for not flinching despite being peppered with balls all over his body.
"Whatever you say about him, it will be very less. He had put his life for the Indian cricket team. He took so many blows, on the gloves, body and was hit on the helmet as well but he stayed there," Gavaskar said.
"Cheteshwar Pujara's presence at the other end gives confidence to the stroke-players" - Sunil Gavaskar
Gavaskar pointed out that Pujara's rock-solid presence in the middle instilled confidence in his batting partners.
"Because of his presence at the other end, the young players, who are the stroke-players feel the confidence that there is someone who is holding one end and because of that his innings was extremely important," Gavaskar observed.
He added that Pujara ensuring India did not lose many wickets on the final day gave Pant the freedom to go on the attack post Tea. Gavaskar said:
"If the Indian team had lost more than a couple of wickets between lunch and tea, then probably they would have faced more difficulty. He held the fort together till the second new ball which gave the confidence to Rishabh Pant and then you see what happened, it is an amazing day."
Cheteshwar Pujara's contribution to India's successful run chase cannot solely be judged by the 56 runs he scored.
The dogged batsman held fort at one end and played the secondary role to perfection in his partnerships with Shubman Gill, Ajinkya Rahane and Rishabh Pant, resulting in a famous Indian win.