Cheteshwar Pujara is one of the calm and composed cricketers on the field who hardly likes to give it back to the bowler whenever sledged. Hardly he has lost his cool on the field as he seems to be in his zone always.
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After the end of first day’s play of the ongoing Pune Test, Pujara revealed that South Africa pacer Kagiso Rabada sledged him by saying something but he was in his zone and avoided listening to what the bowler had to say.
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“I can’t remember what he said. But he (Rabada) is someone who always likes to say something to the batsmen. As a batsman, I always know that he (Rabada) will try to disturb my concentration, not just him but any bowler, who passes a comment, so I try and avoid (listening to) what they say. If you are in your zone, you hardly hear what they are trying to say,” he said.
Pujara looked solid during his known of 58 off 112 but in the end, Rabada got better off him as the batsman edged a delivery to Faf du Plessis at slips. Pujara came to the crease after India lost an early wicket of Rohit Sharma and added 138 runs for the second wicket along with Mayank Agarwal.
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The right-hand batsman, who hit one six during his innings, also created a personal record as it was for the first time n his Test career that he had hit sixes in two consecutive innings.
While Pujara could not convert his half-century into a century, opener Mayank Agarwal scored his second Test century in the series as he scored 108 off 195. The right-handed batsman showed no signs of being nervous as he jumped from 87 to 99 with two sixes and completed his second Test century with a boundary.
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At stumps on day 1, India were 273/3 with Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane on the crease. The duo has started strongly on day 2 and would hope to get a big total on the board to put South Africa under pressure.