India vs Australia: Pitch was not easy to bat on, says Cheteshwar Pujara

MELBOURNE: Cheteshwar Pujara, who overcame a sluggish MCG pitch and a disciplined Australian attack to register his 17th Test century on Thursday, needed close to four sessions to reach the three-figure mark.


The India No. 3, whose 106 came off 319 deliveries and was the slowest of his Test hundreds, explained why it was important to be patient, during his interaction with scribes at the end of the second day’s play.

“On this pitch, batsmen have to play a lot of balls to score runs. It was not easy to get used to its pace. The odd ball was kicking up and I got hit on my finger 3-4 times. Those were not very short balls, just back-of-length stuff. As a batsman, you are always in doubt when playing on such pitches,” he explained, adding that he couldn’t deal with the delivery that got him out as it kept very low.

Asked to rate his knock here, Pujara observed: “It was a challenging pitch to bat on and scoring was really difficult. And given the variable bounce, it will get tougher to bat on. I had to work really hard and it took me nearly four sessions to reach my hundred, which is usually not the case.”

Last time he had toured Australia in 2014-15, he had displayed indifferent form and had been dropped for the final Test in Sydney. Does he now feel vindicated after scoring two centuries in three Tests so far?

“In 2014, it was my first tour of Australia, and even though I started off well I was getting out in 30s and 40s. My experience from that tour has helped me score hundreds this time,” said Pujara, who has piled up big scores in overseas Tests in 2018.

“It is always good to score runs away from home. I am really pleased with the way things have gone this year,” he added.

Pujara admitted to enjoying batting with his captain Virat Kohli with whom he added 170 runs for the third wicket on Thursday to put India on top. “Kohli’s straight drives in this innings struck me specially. Standing at the non-striker’s end, I could see the full face. That is one shot I really enjoyed watching,” he added.