Cheteshwar Pujara hit the winning runs in his 100th Test match as India won the second Test against Australia by 6 wickets and took a 2-0 lead in the series and also retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023.
Cheteshwar Pujara had made a duck in the first innings, but in the second do, he dug his heels in and remained unbeaten on 31 to take India home, while Rohit Sharma (31) and KS Bharat (23*) made contributions as well.
While talking to commentators for Star Sports, Cheteshwar Pujara spoke about playing sweep shots on this Delhi wicket.
He said: “It's not an ideal shot to play because of the low bounce (speaking about the sweep shot), but I have practiced playing it a lot. I try to use my feet, it's always better to play in that manner on such turning wickets. I’ve always done that throughout my career. Not really, it was the initial phase when you walk out to bat. Some balls spun and some went straighter. Once you play 30-40 balls, it’s a good pitch to bat. Once the ball gets softer, it gets easier to bat on.”
Then Matthew Hayden asked him if he will teach the Australian batters how to sweep and Pujara laughed and said: ” Ahh… Not really, at least before the series ends (smiles).”
On playing his 100th Test, he said: “Yeah, it has been a great Test match. Unfortunately, I didn’t get many runs in the first innings. I knew that if I stayed in the crease for a while and played initial balls well, I could do well. It is a special feeling when your family watches you playing the 100th game. I am really happy about the occasion. I was really happy them seeing me finish off the match with a boundary.”
He added: “I thought we'll chase something around 200-250, so we were prepared to go and do that. We were a bit disappointed at yesterday's bowling, we conceded a bit too many runs, but they were excellent today (the spinners).”
He also congratulated his domestic side Saurashtra, who defeated Bengal in the final to win their second Ranji Trophy title.
Congratulating the team, the 35-year-old batter said, “Happy for the boys of Saurashtra for winning the Ranji Trophy. I did have an eye on the proceedings till lunch but couldn’t see what happened afterwards. Congratulations to all the Saurashtra boys.”
(Star Sports inputs)
