New Delhi: On the edge of a precipice, Cheteshwar Pujara responded with a half-century, at times going at a 70-plus strike rate on a treacherous Wanderers pitch. After the third day’s play, the senior batsman upped the ante even further saying, “form is temporary, class is permanent”.
Both Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane passed the test of character with flying colours and as the former said, they ignored the “outside noise”. “There’s a saying that form is temporary, class is permanent. So I feel that it applies. We (he and Rahane) keep working hard on our game. We have done well for the Indian team in the past and the (team) management showed a lot of faith in us, and it has paid off,” Pujara said at the post-day press conference.
Not everything was “outside noise” though. On the first day of the second Test, after Pujara and Rahane had gotten out cheaply, Sunil Gavaskar sounded the alarm bell. “After these two dismissals, one can say that they probably have just next innings, both Pujara and Rahane, to save their Test careers,” the legendary former India captain had said. Pujara was asked about this at today’s presser and he accepted Gavaskar’s comment with humility.
“We have been learning from Sunny bhai. He has always been supportive, whenever I have spoken to him. There are times when if you are going through a bad form, there will be questions. No doubt about that. But we are confident players, myself and Ajinkya, and we know we are working hard on our game,” said Pujara who scored his 32nd half-century today in his 94th Test. A fifty after seven innings allowed the 33-year-old some breathing space and a proactive approach augured well for him.
“It was a conscious decision. Looking at the pitch, the pitch has variable bounce, and you know it’s not easy. Whenever you get a loose ball, you want to make sure that you put it away, because you never know when you will get an unplayable ball. So it was part of my gameplan that whenever I will get a loose ball, I will try to convert it,” said Pujara.
He stuck to his plan without tinkering his technique. “I didn’t do anything extra. I think I have been batting well. It was one of those days where everything was going to my plan and whenever I was getting a loose ball, I was trying to convert it. But overall, very happy with the way things went and the partnership with Ajinkya was very crucial. It’s not just about my score, it’s about the team’s total in the end.”
A 111-run third wicket partnership between the two kept India in the game. Pujara hoped that this would trigger an upsurge in form. “As a batsman, once you are back in form, you keep scoring runs and it keeps going up and up.”