Mumbai: With the retirement of Rahul Dravid, the No. 3 position was up for grabs and there were a lot of contenders for the position, However, Cheteshwar Pujara got the chance and the Saurashtra youngster has done everything right to make that position his own.
Not only he played with authority against the Kiwis earlier, his double century in the first Test against England followed by a ton in the first innings of second Test only testifies his temperament for the longer format of the game. His knocks have earned him praises through all quarters and he is already being hailed as the apt successor of The Wall.
However the man himself wants no comparison and very humbly says it’s too early to compare him with the legend. “I am happy that I am being able to perform consistently till now. That’s what I always try to do. I do the same thing in domestic format and happy to be doing that internationally. But it’s too early to compare me with Rahul Dravid,” said Pujara, terming it to be quite unfare.
“It’s a wrong comparison as Rahul Dravid has scored more than 10000 runs each in both the formats. I am just starting my career and don’t want to put any extra pressure on myself. I want to play my natural game and continue for Team India,” he said.
Terming his century in the second Test to be more satisfying than his double hundred at Motera, Pujara said it to have come in a more challenging situation. “I think this innings was better than the Ahmedabad one. This was more satisfying than the double hundred. We were in trouble and the team needed a score on the board. Even the wicket was difficult to bat on. Yes it was satisfying to score a hundred in a difficult situation,” said Pujara, adding that the first target was to put up 350 on the board.
“We tried out best and in the end had a decent total.”
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Pujara said that it was difficult to play spinners but wicket was slowing down a bit. “It’s just two days so far. It might turn later on, but it’s very difficult to predict the wicket now. I feel we bowled decently. It might be a different day on Sunday,” he said.
Praising England left-arm spinner Monty Panesar, Pujara said, “Panesar was quite impressive and I knew he will be bowling well on this kind of wicket, because I faced him in the practice match at the DY Patil Stadium. He knew the areas where he had to bowl He utilised the wicket very well.”
By Indian Sports News Network