Sledging Doesn't Affect Cheteshwar Pujara; Says He Tries To Remain In The 'Zone'

India’s Test batsman Cheteshwar Pujara is often a relaxed and calm customer at the crease. With his rock-solid defence, temperament, and excellent hand-eye coordination, Cheteshwar Pujara is an apt replacement for Rahul Dravid at number three in Tests. And understandably, the 31-year-old has faced some war of words from the opposition; however, he asserts that it doesn’t affect him. The Saurashtra batsman’s some of the best Test innings has come against Australia.

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The Australians, who are often vocal on the field, has borne the brunt of Pujara’s undying concentration level and the willingness to occupy the crease. Cheteshwar Pujara had them on their knees both in the 2018-19 series and the 2016-17 series. In the trip down under in India’s first victorious campaign, Pujara received the man of the series award for accumulating 523 runs across four Tests.

Pujara revealed that when bowlers fail to get a set batsman, that is when they start blurting out words out of frustration. As far as his case goes, the 31-year old remains firm on getting his job done and not fall into their trap, resulting in potentially disrupting his rhythm. Hence, he tries to stay in that zone.

“You do face sledging a bit when you start the innings. Once you are set, they don’t try to bother you much and focus on getting you out. But when they fail to dismiss you and feel frustrated, they again start the verbal volleys. It is basically to disturb the batsman’s concentration. I don’t usually talk back, but then there have been occasions when you feel that you need to give it back,” the right-handed batsman Cheteshwar Pujara stated as quoted by Times of India.

“However, I try to remain focussed and calm because I know what my job is. See, sledging is a ploy to break your concentration and I feel that if I try to give it back to them, I might step into their trap. So I try to be in the zone.”Cheteshwar Pujara said.

Cheteshwar Pujara reveals how he finds the zone:

The 31-year old assures that finding the rhythm doesn’t mean hitting boundaries frequently. On a lot of occasions, one can discover it even if the ball hits the middle of the bat while defending. That instils plenty of confidence.

“On a lot of occasions, it could be a good backfoot punch or cover drive. Actually, you can find your rhythm even when you are defending. If the ball is hitting your middle of the bat while defending, it gives you a lot of confidence.” he added.

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