RANCHI TEST

In Pujara lies India's best defence

CRICKET-INDIA/ Cheteshwar Pujara plays a shot | Reuters

The epic knock of 202 showcased his evolution as India's most dependable batsman

Cheteshwar Pujara has some serious reputation in domestic cricket. For instance, when his batting partner Wridhiman Saha was asked what he thought of Pujara's epic double ton of which he was the prime witness from the non striker's end, his response was a matter of fact, “Puji (Pujara) shows a lot of patience in domestic cricket. He regularly makes 200s and 300s in domestic cricket. From there, his patience is always on the top.” 

Pujara's magnificent essay was all about control and concentration. Nothing flustered him and the Australians tried everything to break through his defence and concentration. In his own silently aggressive way, he led India towards control of the third Test. 

"He is very disciplined and played really well. That is why he is a class player. He bats for a long period of time. His conversion rate from 50 to 100 and 100 to 150 are pretty high. When he gets in, he likes to go on with it. That is a challenge for our bowling group." This was how Australia's head coach Dareen Lehmann described Pujara's patient innings. 

The Team India's Test number 3 not only came in with a reputation to defend but has built on it in the quietest and most assured way possible. His patient innings at Ranchi—202 runs off 525 balls—just reiterated the point that he is Team India's go to man when it comes to hunkering down and getting the job done. But before we get to details, let's first get past the numbers. Records tumbled in his 672 minutes or 11-hour-long vigil. The number of balls faced by Pujara (525) is the most by an Indian in a Test innings. Rahul Dravid set the previous record in 2004 when he faced 495 balls in his 270 against Pakistan in Rawalpindi in 2004. 

Pujara is the sixth batsman in Test history to score multiple double-centuries against Australia, Wally Hammond (4), Brian Lara (3), Graeme Pollock, Sachin Tendulkar and V.V.S. Laxman (2) are part of this exclusive club.

Perhaps the biggest detail lies in the following numbers-statistic. His tally of 2007 runs this season makes Pujara the third Indian batsman to score 2000-plus runs in a first-class season. Mohinder Amarnath with 2234 runs and Sunil Gavaskar with 2121 runs are the only two batsmen ahead of him. If you look at Test matches alone, in last 12 months—beginning with the West Indies tour followed by the gigantic home season—he has played 15 Tests and scored 1321 runs which include four hundreds and seven 50s. It was in West Indies that he was dropped from the Third Test with the reason being his slow strike rate. Twelve months down the line, no one is complaining, not in the manner Pujara wore down Australian bowlers and spirits or the time he took and balls he played to obliterate any chance of an Aussie win in the Ranchi Test. A talk with coach Anil Kumble and skipper Virat Kohli was followed by Pujara 2.0. From the New Zealand series which marked the beginning of the home season, the Suarashtra batsman has not looked back. Gone are the cobwebs, if any, that were strangling his batting; in its place a more confident, positive India number three has anchored himself in.

This ongoing cricket season has been, no doubt, that of Pujara. With 11 double hundreds in first-class cricket, Pujara equals Vijay Merchant's national record. He has scored centuries against the visiting New Zealand, England and now Australia. Many phrases were used on day 3 and 4 by experts in praise of Pujara's riposte. Speaking post the day's play, Pujara talked about his magnificent innings giving credit to domestic cricket and his batting partner Saha in helping him create one of the finest essays in Indian Test cricket ever. 

"I have the experience of scoring big runs in domestic cricket. The experience matters a lot. You look at the bigger picture. When I was batting, I thought we just wanted to get close to their total somehow. I had to restrict myself at times; I could have played more shots, but I had to control myself. Didn't want to lose my wicket. We communicate with each other. We have played a lot of cricket together,” he told Star Sports. 

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