Sri Lanka vs India 2017: Playing Domestic Cricket Did Help Me, Says Cheteshwar Pujara As He Gears Up For 50th Test
Jan 9, 2019 at 4:06 PM
The feeling that Cheteshwar Pujara is perhaps having during the ongoing tour of Sri Lanka is pretty much similar to that of the Indian team.
While Team India was in a transition phase when it visited Sri Lanka in 2015, Pujara was trying to win his place back in the playing eleven during that series. Fast forward two years and both have accomplished their aims in style. While the team has completely settled under Virat Kohli and is at the pinnacle of Test cricket, Pujara has emerged as one of the most important batsmen in the team.
Pujara, who had arrived at the international scene with a bang, was going through a testing time after consistent failures in away tours and had warmed the bench in the first two matches of the 2015 series.
However, injuries to the regular openers turned out to be a career-defining moment for him, as he was asked to open the innings and the right-handed batsman has not looked back since then. He had scored a brilliant 145* in that match and has become an integral part of the team.
Pujara was India’s highest run-getter in the mammoth home series where he had amassed a staggering 1316 runs in 13 Tests, scoring four hundred including a double century against Australia in Ranchi. His golden run was also studded with eight fifties. And he has started the series in Sri Lanka in the same manner by playing a superb inning of 153 in the first Test in Galle which India won by 304 runs.
“When I got a hundred in Sri Lanka, in 2015, everything changed. After that, I think, even in domestic cricket I’ve scored some runs. When you start playing domestic cricket and start scoring big runs, you gain a lot of confidence and I mean, you know what are the changes required in your game and if you’ve made some changes in your game, then you can try and implement those things in domestic cricket. I think playing domestic cricket did help me,” Pujara said.
Recalling his struggling days, the Saurashtra star revealed how his teammates supported him throughout before stating that the team is keen to dominate Tests for a long time.
“See, when you’re playing for the Indian team everyone wants you to perform and everyone did support me. There was a time when, as I said, I didn’t score many runs. But everyone was confident enough that I’ll make a comeback. When I played my comeback Test, many players, after I scored runs, came and said ‘we knew that you will score these runs’. I was really happy to hear that and overall we have a very nice environment where we try and support each other, especially the way we’ve been playing in the last one and a half years. It has been a really good journey because we enjoy our cricket, we try and support each other and we try and move forward and just dominate Tests for a longer period of time,” he said.
The 29-year-old is just one match away from playing his 50th Test. Speaking about his roller coaster of a journey, he said:
“I think to start off with the first time I represented the Indian team at the junior level, which was under-19, I played my first game against England at Vizag in which I got a double hundred.
“After that, I was selected for the under-19 Indian team for the World Cup which was in Sri Lanka in 2006 where everything began. I started performing well and I was the man of the series and that is when I felt that I have the talent, if I can do it at the under-19 level I can definitely go and play for the Indian team. So everything began there and after that, I was part of the first-class team and scored some runs and I got into the team. 2010 I think was the most crucial year for me when I made my debut and the first Test match I still remember because I wanted to play with some legends like Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag, many of them were part of the Indian team and to share the dressing room with them. I still remember those moments. Those are the times and those are the moments that have stood apart. Apart from that when we talk about the Test series, the recent Test series against Australia was the toughest. That victory was one of the best Test series I have been part of,” he added.
While Pujara has been one of the best in Tests, he is yet to prove his mettle in limited-overs cricket. The soft-spoken batsman did not find any buyers in the IPL and does not play limited-overs cricket for India as well. While the big stars were busy with their various engagements after the home season, Pujara had gone to England to play for Nottinghamshire.
However, the right-handed batsman is now gearing up to make his mark in the limited-overs cricket also.
“Recently I have been batting well and one thing that I have changed is my intent. I would also like to add a few more shots in my batting going ahead. I have already started working on it. Playing different formats of the game is something which I would like to do. The way I am batting now, I am very confident that I can add a few more shots in my game which will help me play different formats of this game,” he said.