With his form back, Pujara returns to venue of his debut

It was five years ago that Cheteshwar Pujara made his Test debut here at the Chinnaswamy stadium, against Australia amidst much hope and matching hype.

The young lad from Saurashtra, with a propensity to stack up big runs in domestic cricket, struck a nerveless 72 as India chased down a 207-run target. Despite picking a 3-ball four in the first innings, Pujara, who had replaced a struggling Rahul Dravid at No 3, betrayed few signs of a debutant. Injuries did keep him out of action for prolonged periods subsequently but he emerged as a worthy replacement for the retired Dravid with a series of big innings at home.

“I still have sweet memories,” he said on Thursday when reminded of his debut here. “I think this venue is really good and I love playing in Chinnaswamy Stadium. It’s one of my favourite stadiums.”

His travails, however, began by the end of 2013 when India played a host of Test series in South Africa, New Zealand, England and Australia spread over two years. Sporadic successes on the road were masked by extended run of failures that eventually led to him being dropped from the Test 11 in Sydney early this year.

Not being in the one-day scheme of things perhaps made his comeback bid a bit harder. The right-hander, though, did everything on his part to earn his spot back. He had stint in county cricket, played a number of ‘A’ cricket matches at home and picked coach Dravid’s brains.

The opportunity, however, came by default in Sri Lanka. Having warmed the bench for the first two matches, Pujara was included in the 11 as an opener after both M Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan were ruled out with injuries. The 27-year-old made a telling statement of his class with a fine ton, a performance that strengthened his case for the Mohali Test last week. Scores of 31 and 77 on a difficult pitch, were further proof of Pujara’s return to form. 

“If you talk about form, there was never a doubt that I wouldn't come back to international cricket because the start that I had (to my career) was good,” he said, talking about his brief wilderness. “I had the confidence. All cricketers, will have that phase when they are not performing as well as they should. But once you start believing in yourself, start working harder on your game and start scoring runs in any game, it can be doemstic or club, then you gain the confidence that you can do well,” he analysed.

Shortning his stance, Pujara said, was just one of the few changes that he has incorporated in his game. “For me, I have the measurement of what kind of stance I have – the distance between my legs,” he began. “Earlier, I had a little wider stance but now I have shortened it. Obviously every stance has its advantages and disadvantages – of players' comfort and the kind of technique they have.

“So each and every individual is different. The most important thing about the stance is comfort factor. I discussed it with my father and Rahul (Dravid) bhai before the Sri Lanka series and then I came down to conclusion of what I wanted and it has helped me,” he explained.

One of the few batsmen to get amongst runs in Mohali, Pujara said the experience of playing spinners on such tracks and nimble footwork were key to batting on spin-friendly wickets.

“For me it’s the experience – having played lots of domestic cricket and scoring big runs has helped me know the pitches... Looking at the last Test match, my footwork was really good. I think the judgement of length and spin are both required. In the last match, a few balls were coming in so it was important to know which ball might come in and which line you could leave the ball on and which line you should play it.”