Cheteshwar Pujara, a top-order batsman, looked on his career to date as he approached being the 13th Indian cricketer to play 100 Test matches. He said his knock of 72 on debut was a crucial moment in his cricket career.
Pujara was elevated ahead of Rahul Dravid, who is currently the Indian team's head coach, and coincidentally made his Test debut in the second Border-Gavaskar Trophy match against Australia in Bengaluru in October 2010. He scored 72 in a successful chase of 207.
In the first innings of that game, Mitchell Johnson caught him lbw for four runs. On his way to making 72 on a day five pitch, hitting seven fours, taking 19 ones, ten twos, and playing 52 dot balls, Pujara, however, left everyone in awe with his exquisite smashes against Johnson, Ben Hilfenhaus, Peter George, and Nathan Hauritz in the second innings.
"It's very challenging to pick two specific innings. Some of them I may mention here, such as the one where I scored 72 on my debut, which I considered to be one of my most significant cricketing moments because I was so anxious. Maybe I wouldn't have been playing international cricket if I hadn't scored those runs. Hence, that innings was quite special," he remarked at the news conference prior to the game.
Going on, 92 against Australia in 2017 at the Chinnaswamy Stadium was one of my favourite innings, Pujara continued, taking the sentimental way. Aside from that, I scored 155 in the second innings, scoring my maiden foreign hundred in South Africa. Then, 123 in Adelaide, followed by the final Test (in 2021) at the Gabba, where I made 56 while taking a couple hits to the body.
Pujara's life is truly completing a circle because both his Test debut and 100th games were against Australia. Pujara averages 52.77 against the opposition for the test on Friday at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, with five hundreds and ten fifties.
"Australia has always been a challenging opponent, and we had a really wonderful series against them. New Zealand and England have also faced off against one another. Since we know the team's capability when we are challenged, our performance against them has been incredibly strong. Players are ready to respond and take on the challenge of competing to become the best squad in the world.
No matter how the game is going, they have a strong battling spirit. They'll constantly pose as your adversary. I've never gotten free runs against Australia when I've walked to the plate. I always have to put in a lot of effort to find a solution and secure such runs.
There is a little amount of banter and chatter since they play as a unit and are constantly loud even on the field. I'll sometimes use that as motivation since I won't try to respond to them. The finest thing a cricket player can do, though, is score runs and let the bat do the talking. They have been a difficult opponent, and I had some success, but we always look forward to this challenge," he added.
Pujara could swiftly name a number of bowlers who competed against him in Test cricket.
"Playing James Anderson in England personally for me. Then, during my first trip abroad, dealing with Morne Morkel and Dale Steyn was pretty difficult. I was having some problems, so I talked to Rahul to work on my game. One of the toughest bowlers to play in Australian conditions has been Pat Cummins.
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