Tendulkar's advice helped in calming nerves: Pujara

Debutant Cheteshwar Pujara, who earned praise for his stroke-filled fifty on debut, today said he overcame the initial jitters after talking to Sachin Tendukar, who was batting on the other end.

Debutant Cheteshwar Pujara, who earned praise for his stroke-filled fifty on debut, on Wednesday said he overcame the initial jitters after talking to Sachin Tendukar, who was batting on the other end.

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Pujara scored a 72-run knock and shared two crucial partnerships with Murali Vijay and Tendulkar in India's seven-wicket win over Australia on Wednesday.

"It was a wonderful and nice experience. First thing that I did was to have a look at Tendulkar. He walked up and told me that you may be nervous. Try to overcome the nervousness. God has given you this opportunity and try and make use of it fully and score the runs," Pujara said.

On his disappointing outing in the first innings when he got out after scoring just four runs, he said, "It was really disappointing and I wanted to take the challenge. The seniors in the team encouraged me to play my natural game and be focused."

He said he was nervous when he was asked to bat up the order but the seniors encouraged him to bat without any pressure.

"I was nervous going in as number three and told myself to be focused. I had planned to go in to the innings taking over by over. They were trying to take my wicket and I did not give away easily and when I actually was on the run, they started defending as well," Pujara said.