Pujara continues to plunder runs

'I love taking up challenges'

Just about a year ago, Cheteshwar Pujara was a dispensable property in the Indian Test team. While he had managed to hold on to his place in the squad, he wasn’t always a certainty in the playing 11. Dubbed as “slow”, he was overlooked for someone who could be more attacking to provide momentum to the innings.

An injury to Rohit Sharma ahead of the New Zealand series last year at home, however, changed things for the Saurashtra batsman.

With former coach Anil Kumble’s encouraging arms around his shoulder, Pujara emerged as India’s most consistent batsman during the home season and has continued his impressive run with another serene ton (153) here on Thursday.

With 1469 runs at an average of 66.77, he is India’s highest run-getter in the format and his century against Sri Lanka in the ongoing first Test against Sri Lanka was just extension of his purple patch.

This was his fifth century this season and a second 150-plus score. The innings was in tune with Pujara’s habit of churning out big knocks irrespective of which level he is playing.
    
“I think whenever I play cricket, whether it's at the international level or first class, I enjoy this game,” stressed Pujara when probed whether he gets extra motivated in this format as he doesn’t get to play the shorter formats for India or in the IPL. “I don't need any extra motivation as far as cricket is concerned because I love playing this game. I love my batting, so whenever I get the opportunity to score runs or do something on the field, I always like the challenge. And I'm always very well prepared because even before any Test series or first-class games, I trust and work hard on my preparation. Whenever there is a challenge, I'm always up for it,” he observed.

True to his word, Pujara has been thrown different challenges, including opening the innings last time in Lanka at SSC, the only Test he played because just one specialist opener was available to be picked in the 11. Pujara stood up to the challenge and carried the bat en route his 145 that set up India’s series-clinching win. 

“As a batsman, you always want to perform well on challenging pitches,” said the right-hander when asked to compare his 153 here on Thursday and the 145 two years ago in Colombo.

“Especially when I got my 145 (at SSC)… That particular wicket was more challenging than this one. When you score a hundred on such wickets, it is more satisfying than this one. But when you are doing a job for the team, I always enjoy scoring hundreds. When you are playing Test cricket and if you have an opportunity to score a hundred, you might as well score more than 100, as many runs as possible. I always enjoy scoring big runs.”