Mumbai: Cheteshwar Pujara whose brilliant unbeaten 114 helped India recover from a precarious 169-6 was praised by R Ashwin who supported him from the other as India posted 266-6 on the opening day of the second Test at the Wankhede Stadium here today.

Ashwin batting on 60 put up a 97 runs stand for the seventh wicket with Pujara said that it would have been a shame had the top order batsman missed out on the ton.

"I thought it was a brilliant knock. The amount of time he trusted his defense and kept on defending was brilliant. He eased the nerves as he batted on, defending beautifully. I thought it was a very well paced knock and it would have been a shame if he had not got a hundred," Ashwin said after the first day's play.

Pujara who is yet to dismissed in three innings that he played in the series looked comfortable against the English bowling attack on a day when they looked very dominating and caught the famed Indian batting line-up wanting.

"He has great temperament, he is in great form and he keeps on grinding the runs and even in domestic cricket he does not get small hundreds, he gets big ones," said Ashwin on Pujara’s appetite for runs.

"We have played together since 16-17 years old. We have been at the national cricket academy and all that," added the Saurashtra batsman.

By Indian Sports News Network