Cheteshwar Pujara, Pat Cummins
Cheteshwar Pujara [Image Credits: Twitter]

Champion Indian Test No.3 Cheteshwar Pujara has said that while he scored more runs [521 in 7 innings] during the historic 2018-19 Border Gavaskar Trophy Down Under, his performance in the recently-concluded rubber against Australia will always be more special for him, given the extraordinary circumstances it came under.

Pujara revealed how the lack of any competitive games for a period of eight months due to the coronavirus-enforced lockdown leading into the series Down Under made it difficult for him to get into his groove straightaway against an Australian attack that was well prepared with their plans for him as well as his fellow batsmen in challenging conditions.

Cheteshwar Pujara, Shane Warne
Cheteshwar Pujara [Image Credit: Twitter]
The Indian No.3 struggled in the first two games but eventually found his groove in Sydney. Pujara racked up three half-centuries in his last four innings but more than the runs it was the number of balls [928] and the amount of  time he spent on the crease that was significant as it tired the Aussie quicks, paving way for the likes of Rishabh Pant to cash-in.

”Both tours have been fantastic for the team and personally I did well on both tours but the circumstances were completely different. This time I was starting up after a long time, almost eight months (due to COVID-19), there were no first-class games also,” Cheteshwar Pujara told PTI 

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“It wasn’t easy at all in terms of preparation and the Australian team had a thorough game plan for each of us. To get back into a rhythm took a little bit of time but luckily all went positive in the end,” he added.

Cheteshwar Pujara, Shane Warne
Cheteshwar Pujara [Image Credits: Twitter]
Pujara may have averaged just over 33 in the four-Test series but given the conditions on offer and against a hostile Australian attack, the gritty batsman, who faced multiple blows on the final day of the Gabba Test, rates his performance this time around as a tad more special than his heist in 2018/19.

“Numbers wise, it may not look like a very, very good series for me but if you look at the pitches, not many runs were scored this time. It was more challenging than last time without a doubt.” Pujara said.

“Very difficult to compare both the tours but this one is a tad more special considering we had a weaker team with so many youngsters. But I wouldn’t say this is the only best series I have been a part of,” he added.

Cheteshwar Pujara
Cheteshwar Pujara (Credits – Twitter)

As has been the case throughout his career, Cheteshwar Pujara’s strike-rate was once again a major talking point among fans as well as pundits. Pujara finds all the hullabaloo around his strike-rate as ‘overrated’ as he feels that each batsman has a different role to play and that there are passages of play when strike-rate hardly matters.

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He added that he had full support from the team-management besides reckoning that he always looked at the bigger picture while batting in a certain way.

“There are times when strike rate hardly matters. Every batter has a role to play. The team management completely understands that. Whether it was Ravi bhai (coach) or Vicky bhai (batting coach) or Ajinkya, they just told me to keep batting the way I bat,” Cheteshwar Pujara said.

“The batting coach also mentioned that Aussies were not giving anything away. So, it wasn’t that I wasn’t batting well but they hardly bowled any loose balls. I had to take extra time to score those runs. I always saw the bigger picture because I knew that it would be tough for the bowlers to run through the side if I was around at the other end.” he added.

Also Read: Cheteshwar Pujara Reveals How Anil Kumble Helped Him Counter Nathan Lyon’s Threat