Change in intent has given good results, says Pujara
Nov 18, 2016, Visakhapatnam, DHNS
It’s unlikely Cheteshwar Pujara was making any statement of intent when he brought up his third hundred in as many Tests with a six but it was just another affirmation of his increasing confidence.
There has been a refreshing change in Pujara’s approach to batting that was believed to be too cautious to the team management’s liking. Since the start of New Zealand series, he has batted with positive mindset and showed remarkable urgency, scoring at a fast clip. While his career strike rate is just under 49 per 100 balls, during the New Zealand series it was a shade over 50 despite grafting in the first Test in Kanpur.
Against England in the Rajkot Test his 124 in the first innings came at a strike rate of over 60 while here on Thursday, he brought up his 119 at 58.33.
“I think I’ve not changed much as far as technique is concerned,” noted Pujara when asked about his change in approach. “It’s just the intent... I spoke to Anil bhai after the West Indies series and even during the New Zealand series. The way I started off in the New Zealand series, I got 50s, 60s and 70s, and then I was missing out on the 100s. So what he told me is that there was nothing wrong the way I was batting, and probably the area I can improve on is the intent, and that’s what I worked on,” he said.
Pujara, who completed 3000 runs in his 40th Test, felt reaching the century with a six was special.
“Yes, completing the 100 with a six was special to me, but starting well in the series meant a lot,” he said. “Scoring a 100 at home (Rajkot) was special to me. So I just wanted to continue my form and obviously, I was batting well. Day 1 pitch, I just wanted to capitalise. Obviously, we lost a couple of early wickets, but after that myself and Virat spoke that we wanted to build a partnership, and the way Virat batted, the kind of partnership we had, was a crucial one for the team.”
Pujara survived a couple of run-out chances early in his innings and it appeared there was lack of communication between him and his partner Virat Kohli.
“I wouldn’t say that there was any gap as far as communication was concerned,” he stressed. “Cricket aspect was perfect, but as far as running between the wickets is concerned, I think we didn’t judge the singles well, especially in the first session. But at lunch time, we had a chat how we wanted to go in the next session. If you look at the time between lunch and tea, we didn’t miss many singles and the way we were running between the wickets in the second session, it was much, much better,” he offered.
Pujara expected the pitch to turn a little more from the second day onwards. “Probably day one, in India, we mostly see that it is always good for batting. Even if you see in the last Test match in Rajkot, day one was really good to bat on. I don’t know how it will shape up starting from tomorrow but we are expecting it to turn a little more than what happened in Rajkot.”
There has been a refreshing change in Pujara’s approach to batting that was believed to be too cautious to the team management’s liking. Since the start of New Zealand series, he has batted with positive mindset and showed remarkable urgency, scoring at a fast clip. While his career strike rate is just under 49 per 100 balls, during the New Zealand series it was a shade over 50 despite grafting in the first Test in Kanpur.
Against England in the Rajkot Test his 124 in the first innings came at a strike rate of over 60 while here on Thursday, he brought up his 119 at 58.33.
“I think I’ve not changed much as far as technique is concerned,” noted Pujara when asked about his change in approach. “It’s just the intent... I spoke to Anil bhai after the West Indies series and even during the New Zealand series. The way I started off in the New Zealand series, I got 50s, 60s and 70s, and then I was missing out on the 100s. So what he told me is that there was nothing wrong the way I was batting, and probably the area I can improve on is the intent, and that’s what I worked on,” he said.
Pujara, who completed 3000 runs in his 40th Test, felt reaching the century with a six was special.
“Yes, completing the 100 with a six was special to me, but starting well in the series meant a lot,” he said. “Scoring a 100 at home (Rajkot) was special to me. So I just wanted to continue my form and obviously, I was batting well. Day 1 pitch, I just wanted to capitalise. Obviously, we lost a couple of early wickets, but after that myself and Virat spoke that we wanted to build a partnership, and the way Virat batted, the kind of partnership we had, was a crucial one for the team.”
Pujara survived a couple of run-out chances early in his innings and it appeared there was lack of communication between him and his partner Virat Kohli.
“I wouldn’t say that there was any gap as far as communication was concerned,” he stressed. “Cricket aspect was perfect, but as far as running between the wickets is concerned, I think we didn’t judge the singles well, especially in the first session. But at lunch time, we had a chat how we wanted to go in the next session. If you look at the time between lunch and tea, we didn’t miss many singles and the way we were running between the wickets in the second session, it was much, much better,” he offered.
Pujara expected the pitch to turn a little more from the second day onwards. “Probably day one, in India, we mostly see that it is always good for batting. Even if you see in the last Test match in Rajkot, day one was really good to bat on. I don’t know how it will shape up starting from tomorrow but we are expecting it to turn a little more than what happened in Rajkot.”
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