Cheteshwar Pujara, Nathan Lyon
Cheteshwar Pujara and Nathan Lyon [Image Credits: Twitter]

Cheteshwar Pujara might not have been able to score the same number of runs as he did during the 2018/19 series but the Indian No.3 still finished as India’s second-highest run-getter—271 runs in 4 games with three half-centuries.

But more than the runs, it was the number of deliveries that Pujara face, which was the real hallmark of his performance. Pujara faced as many as 928 deliveries throughout the 4-match series and while his duel with Pat Cummins was one of the highlights of the series, as was his battle with Nathan Lyon.

 Cheteshwar Pujara, Nathan Lyon
Matthew Wade attempts to catch Cheteshwar Pujara off Nathan Lyon (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

Pujara, who averages 75 against spinners in Test match cricket, negated the threat of Nathan Lyon with brilliant effect and he did that by offsetting the off-spinners lines by regularly dancing down the track and hitting him between midwicket and mid-on.

Pujara, who had struggled in the first two Tests, came back brilliantly in the last two matches, and one of the major reasons behind the renaissance, according to the Indian No.3, was that he trusted his preparation and backed his instincts.

“I trusted my preparation but at the same time, there was a lot of pressure which didn’t help. So I told myself that I have to do something,” Cheteshwar Pujara told Boria Majumdar on Sports Today.

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“There were so many things which I had to process in my head, which I did. I spoke to the batting coach, spoke to Ravi bhai (Shastri). Most of the feedback that I got was positive, I was batting well and just had to continue the way I had been batting without any baggage in my head,” he added.

Pujara also revealed that he has been seeking advice from former head coach Anil Kumble since 2017 on how to score runs in Australia, especially against Nathan Lyon, who has been the Indian No.3’s nemesis in the past.

The Indian No.3 revealed that he got a text from the champion leg-spinner during the series, where the latter had asked the Saurashtra batsman to counter Lyon with the gameplan that he had told him back in 2017, something he admitted has been working brilliantly for him ever since.

“I also got a text from Anil bhai (Kumble) because I was in touch with him. He told me ‘you have to play in a certain manner’. The gameplan which he told me in 2017 has been helping me play well against Nathan Lyon,” Pujara revealed.

As it turned out, Nathan Lyon was also able to dismiss Cheteshwar Pujara only once [overall 10 times] in the entire series, which happened in the first innings of the Adelaide Test.

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Also Read: Still Have Aspiration To Play White-Ball Cricket For Team India: Cheteshwar Pujara