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Cricket Players'Steyn and Morkel were giving me a tough time, I spoke to Rahul Dravid...': Pujara on toughest time before 100th Test
Pujara narrated an interesting story about his first overseas series to South Africa. The veteran right-hander revealed that he had a tough time handling the pace and bounce of a peak Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel. That is when he turned to Rahul Dravid, then India's No.3 and current head coach.
That Cheteshwar Pujara was meant for big things was evident when he first burst onto the scene at the U19 World Cup in 2006. The talented right-hander took six more years to play his first Test and immediately grabbed eyeballs with a stunning knock in a fourth innings run-chase against Australia in Bengaluru. The fact that Pujara played five full seasons of first-class cricket before getting his Test cap, helped him mature as a player and develop into a future star. When his contemporaries were getting the taste of T20 cricket and adapting to the slam-bang style, Pujara was walking a different road. His USP was his patience and ability to bat long. He was meant for red-ball cricket and he was proud of that.
The right-hander who has seen many ups and downs in his career but he has come out of every situation and continued to fight. This very quality of Pujara has taken him this far. He is about to play his 100th Test when India take on Australia in the second Test match in New Delhi, starting Friday.
Ahead of his landmark Test, Pujara recalled his best knocks for India. The India No.3 refused to rank them but he mentioned his 72-run knock on debut during a run-chase against India first.
"Without ranking, among my top innings would be the 72 on Test debut. Then my first hundred in South Africa, 153, in 2013," Pujara told ESPNCricinfo.
Pujara narrated an interesting story about his first overseas series to South Africa. The veteran right-hander revealed that he had a tough time handling the pace and bounce of a peak Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel. That is when he turned to Rahul Dravid, then India's No.3 and current head coach.
"In 2010, my first overseas series, I had a tough time. I batted at No. 5 or 6. Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel were at their peak. I still remember I spoke to Rahul bhai [Dravid] that I am finding it difficult because I have always played on Indian pitches where the bounce is low and the pace is slow. And in South Africa, I am finding it difficult to get acclimatised and it is like facing a different challenge altogether. He gave some good advice. I worked on it. I ensured that whenever I came to South Africa next, I would do well, I wanted to be successful against those bowlers. That happened in 2013 in Johannesburg," he said.
Pujara really brings out his A-game against Australia and especially if the venue is Bangalore. He scored an invaluable 92 in the second innings of the low-scoring match which India won by 75 runs in 2017.
"In 2017 against Australia in Bangalore is another innings I will remember. I have said many times that sometimes your fifties are more valuable than some of your hundreds. And that was one of those knocks which decided not just that Test match but the entire Test series. If we had lost that match, the series was on the line, so it was a series-defining knock for me personally and for the team," Pujara said.
He did not forget to mention his towering performances on Australian soil. "The 123 in Adelaide in 2018 - first innings of an important series. Again, I had done my homework and it paid off and I was really pleased with that. The last one is the fifty at the Gabba in the 2020-21 series where I got hit so many times on my body and I had to work my way out. I felt it was an important innings from the team's perspective," he said.
