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Not worried about nature of pitches – Pujara
On Thursday at the HPCA Stadium nets, Cheteshwar Pujara was batting like a man who had just made a double-hundred. He was stepping out frequently to R Ashwin, Jayant Yadav and Kuldeep Yadav, and driving down the ground with immense power – one straight drive broke the single stump at the bowlers’ end.
On a couple of occasions, he even went as far as lofting the spinners. Pujara being Pujara, he had probably brought the shot out of cryogenic storage simply because this was Dharamsala, which has some of the smallest boundaries among all Indian grounds, and is situated at an altitude – 1317m above sea level – that may cause the ball to carry further.
The last time he batted in a Test match, Pujara did not loft the ball once. He did nothing that could even remotely imperil his stay at the crease, and ended up spending more than 11 hours there.
Shortly before padding up for his net session, Pujara had addressed a press conference where he was asked about how he had acquired the gifts of patience and temperament that so define his batting.
“I think when it comes to patience, it is all hard work,” he said. “I started playing cricket at the age of eight and then I played [my] first game for the state [junior] team at the age of 13. Since then, I have been playing this format and I think the experience [of] playing in the domestic circuit and working hard day in, day out, is paying off now.”
At times during his innings in Ranchi, it seemed as if Pujara had entered a meditative state.
“I can say that, at times, I am in that zone where things are happening for me because of that experience, because I know how to do things, how to continue batting and how to continue concentrating for a longer period of time. I know what to do, how to focus, how to switch off and switch back [on] again. I have been doing it in domestic cricket for a long period of time, which is helping me now.”
Does he have any cues, before the ball is bowled, to help him switch on again?
“Not really,” Pujara said. “I believe in practising well, preparing well before the series, so I am always confident when my preparation is good. I don’t really think when I am batting in the middle, I try and keep my mind really blank.”
Having played an innings as epic in scale as he did in Ranchi, how difficult does Pujara find it to recover, physically and mentally?
“I focus on my diet,” he said. “I try and sleep on time and have a good sleep. Do some recovery sessions, have a massage. Those sort of things, I have some routines once the match finishes, I try and focus on that, I give a lot of importance to recovery.
“I don’t know mentally – I think you just have to be up for it. Mentally, you can’t do anything extra to just come out of it, but when you’re tired you just have to motivate yourself and the ultimate goal is to win matches for the team and win this particular series.”
With the teams locked 1-1 ahead of the decider, India have arrived at a new Test venue whose location is unlike any other international ground in India, and whose pitch – at least in domestic cricket – always offers something to the quicker bowlers. Asked about this, Pujara said India weren’t too fussed about the conditions they may be playing in.
“It looks like a good wicket,” he said. “I think we have played a lot of cricket even in Dharamsala. We have played enough first-class cricket, we know the conditions. We will just try and focus on things which we want to focus on rather than worrying about how the wicket will play.
“We have played enough cricket on different pitches throughout the season. So I don’t think the wicket will matter a lot to us. We are very confident, the way we have played throughout the series. Apart from the first Test match, we have played very good cricket. So we would look to continue that and win the series.”
In the days leading up to the match, the BCCI announced its new list of centrally contracted players. Pujara was promoted to the top grade for the first time in his career.
“It’s good to be recognised, but at the same time, we’re in the middle of a series and I don’t want to think about the contract,” Pujara said. “We have an important game coming up and I would still like to focus on the game and prepare well. We have practice the next couple of days so we’d like to focus on that.”
Karthik Krishnaswamy is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo