Cheteshwar Pujara is your classical, traditional cricketer in whites who loves to score runs, big ones at that. Ask him if he gets bored to score when there is no challenge or batting on a flat pitch, and he smiles – an indication of hunger to get scores against his name whenever there is an opportunity. When Cheteshwar Pujara walks out on the field for the second Test at Colombo, it will be his 50th. A memorable achievement, a landmark in whites and a moment that he is very proud of.
“It has been a wonderful journey so far. Playing the 50th Test match for the country will be a proud moment for me,” Pujara said. “When I started playing cricket, I thought that Test cricket is always something that I wanted to play. The way things have shaped up so far, I feel my career has been really good. There have been ups and downs but looking at the recent form, I will be looking forward to playing the 50th Test match and score some runs for the team.”
Again – score runs. But if one were to go down the memory lane and rewind to the moment he made his Test debut back in 2010, Pujara has come a long way. From being ‘one’ of the batsmen in a star-studded batting line-up to being one of the batting mainstays in Indian Test cricket at the moment, it has been quite a journey for Pujara.
“2010 was the most crucial year for me when I made my debut and played my first Test match. I still remember it clearly because I wanted to play with some legends like Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag and many of them were part of the Indian team. To share the dressing room with them was special and I still remember those moments. It was a great learning curve for me as well.
These batting stalwarts always worked hard on their game. Many of them did score more than 10000 runs when I was part of the team but they were always working hard to improve their game. They were all grounded and they were trying to support young players. Whenever I wanted some guidance from them, they were always trying to help me. I think the work ethic and their determination and the pride for representing the country was always there. So, I've learnt many things and it's very difficult to describe things in a few words.”
With time, Pujara began to score heavily. The 70s and 80s were turning into massive hundreds and with it came an eagerness to improve and add more facets to his game. “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.”
India are set to play a string of overseas tours going ahead. South Africa first and then the ultimate challenge against England later. Pujara, with handy county experience looked to do well abroad. “I would definitely like to score runs, but there won’t be any pressure this time as I have played some county cricket. Playing in England will always be challenging, the wickets are bowler-friendly but I would definitely like to score some runs. But I wouldn’t think that far ahead because we have a tour of South Africa first after this series. The next away tour is South Africa and I would like to prepare for that."
