Buoyed by some strong performances in the ongoing home season, Cheteshwar Pujara hopes to be a part of this year’s Indian Premier League.

It must be too hard for Pujara to not play in the lucrative league even after being one of the most prolific run-getters in the domestic circuit. A batting mainstay in the longest format of the game, the Saurashtra batsman is yet to prove his mettle in the limited-overs cricket. The right-handed batsman is considered by many as an one-dimensional player and even faced some criticism for his slow batting during the West Indies tour.

But since the home season began, the 29-year-old has showed he has the ability to up the ante when needed. He has scored quickly in several matches in the home season including a quickfire fifty in the second innings of the recently concluded Test against Bangladesh and strengthened his case with a 73-ball 108 run in the DY Patil tournament last month. And his displays have given him the hope that people’s perception towards him will change sooner than later.

“I am very hopeful that perception will go soon. I have got a T20 hundred in a DY Patil Tournament. Probably I am batting freely, I have added a few shots to my game, which is helping me. Even in Test format, the way I am striking the ball, the way I have been batting in the last few series, I have changed my game, which is helping me in T20 and one-day game. In near future I think things will change,” Pujara had said after the fourth day’s play against Bangladesh.

There is a perception I can’t play many shots. If you look at domestic cricket, and overall that I have played, this was one of the occasions that gave me an opportunity to express myself and I did that,” he had added.

Pujara, who is not a part of India’s limited-overs team, doesn’t have an IPL contract since being released by Kings XI Punjab in 2014. But he will hope to have an offer soon when the players including him go under the hammer in the IPL auction on February 20.