Chennai: These are testing times for Cheteshwar Pujara, India ‘A’ skipper. Despite being benched for the one-off Test against Bangladesh, Pujara remains unruffled about his spot in the team and said “it was just a matter of time” before his willow started doing the talking. With the announcement of the Test team to Sri Lanka round the corner, chairman of selectors Sandeep Patil was having a lengthy chat with Pujara during a training session on the eve of the first four-day match at Chepauk on Tuesday.
When Pujara was queried about the potential threat he faces from Rohit Sharma, who batted at No. 3 against Bangladesh and a regular in other formats as well, in the playing XI, he said: “I would rather like to keep improving as a player than worry about players I’m competing with. At the end of the day you want to play for India and help the team win.” “Being part of the playing XI is not in my hands. I will get my chance and I need to be patient. All I have to do is work hard and score runs at every opportunity,” he added.
Tipped to be the next mainstay of India’s batting line-up, Pujara has been able to muster only one fifty in his last 10 outings in Tests. However, the 27-year-old Saurashtra batsman said India ‘A’ coach Rahul Dravid himself had told him that there was “nothing wrong about his technique.” “Even before the preparations for the series against Australia ‘A’ began, I started working with Rahul bhai.
“I have been batting well in the nets. I have scored runs with my technique for so long and there is no doubt about it. I just need to stick to what I know and hopefully I can be successful again,” said Pujara, adding Dravid was one of the best mentors he has worked with. After stating that not being part of the IPL this year was a big disappointment, the gritty batsman, who represented Kings XI Punjab in 2014, said his stint with Yorkshire was a “blessing in disguise.”
“I got an opportunity to play county cricket at the right time of my career. The conditions were challenging and technically you need to be perfect. Even your concentration level has to be up to the mark to score some runs there,” added Pujara, who scored a hundred and a fifty in six innings for Yorkshire.
