There were a lot of questions asked about Cheteshwar Pujara’s ability to convert starts into big scores before the start of India’s Test series against New Zealand in September.
And there were more concerns about the same after the Saurashtra batsman got three half-centuries in the first two Tests, but wasn’t able to kick on and register a three-digit score.
The wait, though, ended in the third Test of that series at Indore as Pujara struck a fabulous century in India’s second innings as they completed a series whitewash over the Kiwis.
Against England, Pujara has continued from where he left off. In two Tests in the ongoing series, the 28-year-old has already managed to notch up two hundreds so far.
After scoring 119 on Thursday, Pujara wants to continue his good form during the long home season.
“I’m really happy with the way I have started off in this series. The hundred at Rajkot was special to me and I want to maintain the form,” said Pujara.
Three centuries in a row for Pujara...he sure knows how to make the good form count. Well played 😊👍🙏👏💯
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) November 17, 2016
Pujara and Indian captain Virat Kohli added 226 runs for the third wicket after a shaky start to the Indian innings. This was the fourth century partnership between the two in Test cricket.
“We needed to build a partnership after losing a couple of early wickets. And the way Virat batted, we were able to build a partnership,” said Pujara.
“We rotated the strike and he was timing the ball very well. I was confident because I had a hundred in my last game. We thought of scoring 10-20 runs at a time and then take it forward.”
Speaking about the miscommunication between the wickets which almost cost Pujara his wicket on two separate occasions, he said: “It was there, but we spoke about it during lunch, and it was much better in the second session. You sometimes need to rotate strike and take singles. It happens.”
Pujara also added that he expects batting to get tougher as the match progresses with a lot of rough patches appearing on the pitch. He is hopeful that the hosts will post a huge total and won’t have to bat in the second innings.
“This wicket is slightly on the slower side, but I see more rough on both the sides of the pitch. So (there will be) more help for off-spinners as the game progresses and hopefully more cracks later at the end of day two,” he said.
“The way we are placed, anything around 500 will be a good total, but we want to bat on. Virat has batted well, and Ashwin has just gone in. Hopefully, we don’t bat again.”
