After an indifferent Caribbean tour, Cheteshwar Pujara returned to form with a fluent effort for India ‘Blue’ against India ‘Green’ in the ongoing Duleep Trophy clash at Greater Noida. The 28-year old could not have chosen a better time to signal his homecoming with a packed season scheduled to kick start later this month.
Despite the contest being a virtual knockout, the fact that he walked into the crease at 212/1 might have played a part in helping him bide his time before gradually establishing the platform for a substantial performance.
Resuming from an overnight score of 63, Pujara began watchfully in the company of Abhimanyu Mithun. With the pitch sporting a dry look and overhead conditions not encouraging the pink ball to swing considerably, he did not have to do much other than tiring the opposition by seeing off the first hour or two.
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While the night watchman was having a fancied life at the other end, Pujara looked to nudge the ball around before a half-volley from Ashok Dinda presented him with a scoring opportunity. Acknowledging the need to introduce spin to try and prise out the breakthrough, skipper Suresh Raina summoned leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal.
The change resulted in a wicket with Mithun going for one too many as the extravagant flight coerced him. Dinesh Karthik arrived and made his intentions pretty clear with a couple of dexterous strokes.
Despite Gopal’s attempts to entice Pujara with his loop, the latter did not budge and relied on soft hands. Following a straightforward flick through square-leg, he brought up his 32nd first-class ton.
Spin and some more spin
The post-tea session saw Pragyan Ojha and Jalaj Saxena operate in tandem with a couple of close-in fielders remaining in action. With the left-arm spinner squaring off against his erstwhile national team-mate, an interesting battle was brewing.
Resigned to the proceedings, Raina then opted to stem the flow of runs by stacking up the leg-side and forcing his bowlers to deny any semblance of width to a deep batting lineup.
However, the experienced Pujara capitalized by continuing to pierce the gaps and piling on the agony for India ‘Green’. With Karthik aspiring to tee off against the spinners, he wisely gave him the strike in a bid to build on the partnership.
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When the Tamil Nadu batsman was threatening to open up, Dinda dismissed him against the run of play with a seemingly innocuous delivery down the leg-side. But, Pujara did not offer any let-up and even took the aerial route to Gopal.
Eventually, he failed to pick a well-disguised googly and could only chop on to his stumps after reaching 166. India ‘Blue’, though, mercilessly maintained their plunder for runs and registered a mammoth 707.
Speaking to host broadcasters Star Sports after his display, Pujara reflected, “This was my first game with the pink ball – enjoyed batting on this wicket, not much help for the fast bowlers. (However) even when I was facing spinners, it was very difficult to pick the googly under lights. A little difficult to pick the seam on the pink ball. (I’am) disappointed to get out on 166 (as) people expect big from me. Getting a hundred was good though and (it’s) always good to play domestic games before a big series.”
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