Kolkata: India cricketer Cheteshwar Pujara perhaps took the right decision by going back to England to play county cricket with Nottinghamshire. It was the third county stint for the Sourashtra batsman who has earlier plied his trade with Derbyshire and Yorkshire in 2014 and 2015 season respectively. The results of playing in county was evident as he stood firm against a relentless Sri Lankan pace attack as wickets tumbled around him. The hosts are 74/5 before rain washed out the second day of the first Test before lunch on Friday.
Sri Lanka head coach Nic Pothas pointed out that Pujara’s stint with Nottinghamshire, where he could not muster many runs, helped him negotiate the ‘English-like’ conditions at the Eden.
“Pujara is a world class player. His innings shows the benefits of him playing county cricket. That is genuinely a wicket you would find in England, April-May and he certainly played in the conditions very well,” Pothas opined.
Fast bowler Dasun Shanaka struck twice on a cloudy morning session at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens as the hosts struggled to build on their overnight 17-3. Pujara is just three runs short of scoring his 16th half century in test cricket.
For India fielding coach R Sridhar, Pujara’s unbeaten 47 off 102 balls in testing conditions against Sri Lanka at the Eden Gardens is one the finest he has seen from the test specialist.
“Pujara he has got a grip of every condition when he goes in to bat. It was quite simple the gameplan play as close to your body and try to play straight. Pujara’s innings..the standout feature was most of his runs went to the right of mid off, he had a narrow V. It was probably one of the best 47 runs I have seen from Pujara,” Sridhar told reporters here.
While the other Indian batsmen finding the conditions difficult at Eden Gardens, Pujara grafted his innings with utmost ease. The innings at Eden Gardens will give Pujara the confidence as a lot will depend on his form on the tour of South Africa which begins later this year.