Nottingham: Indian batsman Cheteshwar Pujara admitted that he was under pressure to score runs and credited his county stints for providing him the confidence to bat in English conditions and overturn his poor form during the third Test here.
Pujara scored 72 runs and added 113 runs with skipper Virat Kohli as India piled on 352-7 and declared to set an imposing 521-run target for England to win the third Test.
“Playing County cricket did help me. I’ve learnt a lot. Although I didn’t score too many runs in County cricket, I was playing on challenging pitches. I think I was always confident,” said Pujara.
“I always felt that I was batting well especially in the nets, I was timing the ball. I was very confident that I was up for a big one. The way I batted in this innings, I felt that whatever I was working on in the nets, it came along. Really pleased to score those 72 valuable runs for the team,” he added.
Pujara overcame a poor run of form wherein he averaged 14.66 in the past nine innings, with his last half-century coming in Johannesburg on a green-top against South Africa. The batsman said he did feel pressure because of that poor form.
“To be honest there is always some pressure especially when you have not scored too many runs. Even as a batting unit, before this Test match, collectively we hadn’t scored too many runs,” he said. ”
Talking about his recent run-outs and poor shot selections, Pujara said, “Sometimes if you are playing this game, there will be different modes of dismissals. I am not too concerned about them. The important thing is the way we batted as a unit and the number of runs we scored. And we are very well balanced in this Test match. We are looking forward rather than worrying about the past or the way our batsmen got out. We should be really happy with the amount of runs we have scored,”
Pujara said one needs to trusts one’s technique to score runs in this conditions. ‘You just need to trust your technique, your temperament and be confident about how you know to play in such condition,” he said.
Pujara said he had a clear game plan against James Anderson when he and Kohli started batting on day three. “Anderson is a great bowler no doubt but facing him in 2014 in similar conditions has helped me. I knew what areas he bowls in and what should be my game plan. I was clear with my game plan. I think facing him in the past helped me because I’ve played him even in Indian conditions,” he said. ‘
England played out nine overs last evening but now face six sessions to bat and save this third Test and prevent India from making a comeback in this five-match series.
“There is enough help for the fast bowlers. In the first session, we saw a number of deliveries rose and many balls also stayed low. But the way we bowled in the first innings, if we bowl like that we have a good chance
of bowling them out” Pujara signed off.