The Kanpur test against New Zealand brought about quite a few positives for the Indian team. While the form displayed by ace spinners R. Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja was top notch, the batsmen too came to the party. Barring skipper Virat Kohli’s own form, all batsmen did well and got to defined starts. But the biggest respite was the form shown by Cheteshwar Pujara at his designated number three slot.
Pujara looked in fine touch as he was ruthless against the Kiwi spinners. On the third evening, Pujara’s unexpected counterattack was enough to put New Zealand on the back foot and put them out of contention of winning the game. Post India’s victory, skipper Virat Kohli admitted that he asked Pujara to accelerate on the third evening.
“Pujara is someone who absorbs the pressure really well but after a certain stage in the innings there comes a time when the team needs runs,” Kohli said. “That’s where we felt that he has the ability to capitalise. It was just about conveying that to him. He has worked hard on his game. He scored at a good strike rate in the Duleep Trophy. Even on this wicket, he was scoring at 65, almost 70 strike rate,” the Indian captain explained.
“Which for me was a revelation, to see Pujara bat that way. Because he used to bat that way initially. Especially at home. If you see his double-hundreds against England and Australia, he will dominate spinners. That’s exactly what we wanted him to do. We didn’t want him to go into a shell. We want Pujara to bat to his potential. Once he starts scoring runs to go with the composure he already has, it becomes very difficult for the opposition to have control of the game. That’s all we wanted to convey to him,” Kohli added.
Kohli was generous enough in lauding the Saurashtra batsman for his hard work and dedication. “He’s someone who understands what the team wants. He has worked hard on his game. He has come back, and he is playing more positively. Which we appreciate as a team and me personally as a captain. That he has actually gone and worked hard on his game. He has not told us this is my comfort zone and I am not going to get out of it. That is the kind of characters we need to win games and series,” said Kohli.