XtraTime Web Desk: With a brilliant century on day 1 of the first test against Australia Cheteshwar Pujara took his team out of great danger as all other batsmen failed miserably against the Aussie bowlers. Thanks to a brilliant 123-run knock of Pujara the visitors reached 250 for the loss of 9 wickets. After playing a top knock Pujara rated it as one of his top innings in test cricket so far.
“It is one of my top innings in Test cricket, I could say top five. I can’t rate if it was one of the best but the team-mates were appreciating, they were saying it was one of the best,” said Pujara while talking to the media at the end of day 1.
It was very hot out there in the final session as it was almost 40 degrees out there. On being asked whether he faced any problem while batting, Pujara replied,” It was tough but I was set and I knew I could play my shots, especially when we lost the seventh wicket. Myself and Ash were having a good partnership but once we lost Ash, I thought I had to accelerate. I knew what shots I could play on that wicket because I had batted for two sessions and I think it was tough it was considering the weather.
Pujara feels that the other batsmen should batted better on this wicket as it was easy to bat on after first couple of hours play. But beside that he also praised Aussie bowlers as they bowled in tight lines.
“To be honest, we should have batted better but they also bowled well in the first two sessions and I knew that I had to stay patient and wait for the loose balls. The way they bowled, they bowled in the right areas. I also felt that our top order should have batted better but they will learn from the mistakes and put up a better show in the second innings,” said Pujara.