Cheteshwar Pujara confident he can fit into skipper Virat Kohli's long term plans
Cheteshwar Pujara is confident he can cement his place in the Indian Test team at the No 3 spot, Cricbuzz reports. The Saurashtra batsman was thrilled at having made his opportunity against Sri Lanka count and believes he can fit into the positive mindset skipper Virat Kohli expects from him.
The 27-year-old Test specialist was overlooked for the first two Test matches against Sri Lanka recently but made an outstanding comeback in the third and deciding Test match by earning the Man of the Match award for his unbeaten knock of 145 in the first innings. He became only the fourth Indian batsman to carry his bat through an innings and Pujara understandably rates the match-winning knock as one of his best ever.
“I would rate it among my top three knocks because the conditions were challenging. While we played the first two Tests on wickets where there was very little grass, the SSC pitch had a fair amount of grass. There was quite a bit of pressure, but I knew that I had to make use of the opportunity,” he said.
Pujara was an ever-present in the Test team since August 2012 but a series of knocks in England and Australia last year, where he failed to build on after getting promising starts, meant he was dropped for final Test Down Under and was not picked for the one-off Test against Bangladesh as well. Pujara though feels that it was just a lack of confidence and not his technique that was at fault. He credited India A coach Rahul Dravid for restoring the same.
“I was not batting poorly. I was scoring runs in domestic and county cricket. When I went for the India A camp, I had a few sessions with Dravid and he told me there is nothing wrong with my technique. That statement had assured me about my batting. Then I was waiting for a chance. And once that came, I think I was successful in making the most of it,” he said.
There is no communication gap between me & Kohli: Pujara
That opportunity was presented to Pujara as a result of injuries, with the Indian team management, especially director Ravi Shastri, and Kohli, preferring Rohit Sharma to Pujara as they feel the latter is not aggressive enough. Pujara, however, feels he has it in him to play the way Kohli wants him to and dismissed suggestions that there were problems between the pair.
“There is a difference between batting positively and aggressively and being an enforcer. I think what Virat meant was the No. 3 batsman needs to play positively,” Pujara said. “At the end of the day, you are playing a Test match and by what he had said, it doesn't mean that you need to take a run off every ball but you need to have a positive mindset where you can dominate the bowlers and not the other way round. I am completely aware of what Virat wants and there is no communication gap between us.”
Pujara ready to bat at any position
Injuries to Shikhar Dhawan and Murali Vijay meant Pujara played as a makeshift opener at Colombo and though Pujara prefers batting at the No 3 spot, he is more than happy to continue in the role of an opener or any other position the team wants him to come in at.
“It had been a while since I opened the innings. But as I said, I looked at it as an opportunity to stake my claim in the side. Also, batting at No. 3 prepared me well to face the new ball. Of course, there were nervous moments but I have always felt comfortable in the middle,” Pujara said.
“I would be very happy if I get back to batting at No. 3 in the next series. But then, I am really flexible when it comes to the batting order. Having scored runs in all positions and getting back to form, I am ready to fill in any spot which the team management wants,” he added.