SK Flashback: When Cheteshwar Pujara crafted his maiden overseas ton
Temperamentally and technically, Pujara has been unquestionable
The legacy of an elegant number three batsman in the modern game in Test cricket was set by the evergreen Rahul Dravid - an exemplary batsman for India at that slot. He retired in 2011, which left an immense void in the line-up. Two years later, the hunt for an apt replacement was still on.
Cheteshwar Pujara was India’s answer to the search but was yet to show his mettle on overseas turfs. In his first three innings on foreign soil, he returned with scores of 2, 10 and 19 against South Africa in 2011, which was pretty ordinary going by the standards he had set by then.
High time to score big
In 2013, Pujara was back for his second overseas Test tour and yet again it was a trip to South Africa. Before the start of the first Test in Johannesburg, the home and foreign records of Pujara were contrasting enough to raise concerns over his ability to step up to the plate in alien conditions. It was imperative for Pujara to perform in the two-Test series in order to stay put in his slot in Test cricket.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the former Indian Test skipper, won the toss and elected to bat on a track conducive to fast bowling. India lost wickets at regular intervals while the scoring rate wasn’t high either. Riding on Virat Kohli’s dazzling ton, India posted a respectable total of 280.
The Indian fast bowlers ensured that South Africa weren’t allowed to get away with ease and restricted them to a total of 244. The fast bowlers were right on the money and strangled the Proteas batsmen with some nagging line and length. Albeit a slender lead, India had got their nose ahead in the match with 270 overs remaining in the contest.
Pujara - A mature and reliable head
With three days to go in the match, both time and runs smiled on the Men in Blue. India needed to carry on the good work while South Africa were up against it to pull things back. Churning out early wickets was the way forward for the Proteas to make any sort of an impact on the game.
Vernon Philander struck first blood as Shikhar Dhawan was sent back to the hut in the eighth over of the game and with that wicket, Philander became the fastest South African to 100 Test scalps. With the lead on 59 runs, Pujara strode onto the field to take forward the innings along with Murali Vijay. Quite characteristically, Pujara put his head down to get adjusted to the conditions.
Defence, defence and more defence - this was the Saurashtra batsman’s approach in his first 64 balls as he crept along to nine runs. Murali Vijay, after grafting for a chunk of the post-lunch session, perished to a faint nick down the leg side to A.B de Villiers. At tea, India had stretched the lead to 145 with eight wickets left in the shed.
The good news for India was that Pujara’s batting had gone a gear up via a string of boundaries, pushing his score to 39 in 107 balls. South Africa successfully strained every sinew to keep India in check, but the job was far from being over for the Proteas. Things went from bad to worse for them as runs leaked prodigiously from the bat of both Pujara and Kohli.
Kohli and Pujara’s stand helped India build the massive lead
Pujara brought up his half-century in 127 balls with a boundary off an uppish stroke over mid-wicket. Soon after, he got a reprieve in the 47th over as Imran Tahir spilt a sitter of a caught and bowled. Pujara made them pay by scoring his next lot of 50 runs in 41 balls that included seven fours.
In the first innings, he bowed down after getting to 25 in 98 odd deliveries, but this time round, he didn’t let the opportunity slip as he raced to his maiden overseas Test ton which displayed his credentials as a batsman for all conditions.
To everyone’s bewilderment, he ran parallel with Virat Kohli in terms of strike rate and made things ominous for the South Africans. At the close of play on Day 3, India cantered along to 284 for the loss of two wickets. Pujara went from strength to strength and swatted the bowlers to end the day on 135 balls from 221 balls, stretching India’s lead to 320.
It took 356 deliveries for South Africa, after dismissing Murali Vijay, to pick up the third wicket as Pujara miss-timed a cut shot into the hands of de Villiers off Jacques Kallis. Virat Kohli followed suit as India suffered a mini collapse, losing three wickets for 12 runs. India was eventually bowled out for 421 runs and South Africa was left with 458 runs to achieve in 136 overs.
After the initial 50 overs of the chase, the Indians turned the screws on their chances of going 1-0 up as they reduced the Proteas to 197/4 with further 261 runs to accomplish.
Courtesy tons from Faf du Plessis (134) and A.B de Villiers’ 103, the Proteas managed to eke out an improbable draw. The duo brought them ever so close to victory with some stupendous rearguard action and a partnership of 205 in 82.2, but a flurry of wickets meant that South Africa settled for the draw rather than pushing for victory.
A fair distance to travel
While Pujara’s gritty 153 was instrumental in India’s positive start to the campaign, the innings demonstrated versatility in Pujara. He ground hard to get in terms with the conditions and pressed the accelerator when it was required to push on.
Over the last three years, Pujara hasn’t had the best of times in foreign conditions, by his standards. Since the first Test, Pujara scored 970 runs in 16 games at an average of 35.92 compared to his career average of 49.33 with four centuries.
At 28 years of age, Pujara has a lot of cricket left in him to leave an everlasting impact on the game. Over the years he has been dropped a few times, but he has kept coming back, which is a testament to his resolute character. Though not in India’s scheme of things in the limited overs formats, Pujara has established himself as someone trustworthy in crisis situations in Test cricket.