India in Sri Lanka: Centurion Pujara presents the perfect template on how to build a Test innings

He saw Virat Kohli chase at a full wide ball that seamed away — the edge carrying to the wicketkeeper. He saw Rohit Sharma fall to a beautiful outswinger from the excellent Dhammika Prasad on the stroke of lunch. He saw Stuart Binny get trapped in front on the first ball after lunch with a ball that seamed into the right hander. He saw Ravichandran Ashwin and Naman Ojha throw their wickets away, just when the pitch was getting easier to bat on. He had to wait till the ninth batsman Amit Mishra to get a good partnership going. But Cheteshwar Pujara stuck it out from the other end and how. After getting his much-awaited chance in the playing XI, albeit in an unfamiliar opening role, Pujara played arguably the best innings by an Indian batsman of this series of so far, to carry his bat through to the end of the day. When rain put an end to the second day’s play, he was unbeaten on 135 as India finished at 292 for 8 – a score that looked improbable after a labouring effort in the first session, followed by going down to 180 for 7 in the second session. [caption id=“attachment_2413378” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Cheteshwar Pujara was the hero for India on Day 2 of the third Test in Colombo. AP[/caption] “The wicket was challenging. Opening was difficult especially with the ball moving around. I think we needed to build a partnership,” Pujara said after the match. “Virat and I were playing well, and then Rohit and I had a good stand but unfortunately I lost both. The partnerhsips with Naman and Mishi bhai were very crucial. Lot of credit goes to Mishra for taking the pressure off me.” Pujara, in the process of reaching his seventh Test hundred, displayed exemplary temperament. Showing decisiveness in his footwork –dancing down to spinners to defend, rocking back to cut and leaving the good balls outside off – watching the ball reach all the way to the keeper’s gloves. Even if he was being extra-defensive, he was decisive about it. There were hardly any prods outside off and it was not until late in the innings that he started driving away from his body. The first hour of play was a slug fest with the Sri Lankan pacers Prasad, Nuwan Pradeep and Angelo Mathews along with Rengana Herath not giving the batsmen an inch to breathe. 31 overs were bowled in that session with a mere 69 runs being scored. But that was Pujara doing the hard work – laying the foundation for what was to be a big hundred. There were murmurs of whether Pujara was playing too slow as his first 30 runs took 88 balls. But the 27-year-old knew better. Perhaps the stand-out feature of his century was the way he paced his innings. His next 30 runs came from 57 balls and he went for 60 to 90 in 43 balls – a phase of his innings in which he was scoring boundaries for fun. He targeted Tharindhu Kaushal when he came on to bowl, cutting and driving him for three boundaries of his first three balls. And when he was nearing the end of day’s play he steadied himself again, taking 89 balls for his next 45 runs. That right there is the template on how to build a Test match innings on a challenging wicket. He even joked about his strike rate at the end of day’s play. Responding to a question on his less flamboyant batting style (compared to his teammates), Pujara said: “If you see, my strike rate in Tests in not bad. My overall career strike rate is quite good. I just want to bat the way I do. I want to play my natural game where once I get set I will continue to play my strokes.” He’s not wrong either. His career strike rate of a shade under 50 in Tests, compares favourably with the likes of Virat Kohli (53.52), Murali Vijay (47.32) and Ajinkya Rahane (56.55). Pujara is, however, much more old-fashioned in his batting style and on a tough-pitch, that grit saved India’s blushes. “It is always difficult [to make a comeback in an unfamiliar position]. I had a tough time in between but I worked hard on my batting. Rahul bhai, when I was playing for India A, said that there is nothing wrong with my technique. He told me just keep working hard and stay composed and I’ll come good.” And come good he did, when his team needed him to. “Some cricketers are meant to have tough careers. Nothing comes easy for Pujara. He has had to wait for this chance,” said Sanjay Manjrekar in the post-match show. But when the chance came, he took it with both hands. And when he is on form, he does make batting look easy.