On Day 3 of the ongoing third Test against England at Headingley in Leeds, Cheteshwar Pujara exhibited top-class cricket and batted with a positive approach, especially at the start of his innings.
The right-handed batter displayed a completely different game and never allowed England bowlers to dominate him. Pujara was aggressive as he kept on hitting the loose balls for boundary. He quickly completed his half-century – in which 40 runs came from boundaries only.
At stumps, Pujara was unbeaten on 91 along with captain Virat Kohli (45 no) at the other end. The duo took the team’s total to 215/2, forming an unbeaten stand of 99 runs for the third wicket.
As Pujara eyes his 19th Test century, Indian opener Rohit Sharma has hailed his teammate for showing the intent to score runs right from the word go.
“He (Pujara) definitely came with an intent to score runs. The way he got off the mark and then carried on from there. Anything loose, he was ready to pounce on it. It shows he had an intent in his batting, and that really helps,” said Rohit during the presser after the end of the day’s play.
Rohit termed Pujara as a very disciplined batter. The Mumbaikar further stated that Pujara is a quality batsman, and few poor innings don’t prove anything. He praised the Rajkot-born for batting in the adverse situation, hailing his character and mindset.
“With Pujara, we have seen it over the years; he is a very disciplined batsman. But yes, of course, of late, the runs haven’t come, but that doesn’t mean the quality of Pujara has gone missing. I think the quality is always there,” the 34-year-old explained.
“It was not the easiest of the situations to go and bat when you’re three hundred-odd behind. To bat the way he batted shows the character of an individual and shows the mindset of an individual as well,” Rohit added.
