Indian batter Cheteshwar Pujara reacted to the criticism subjected to him and fellow batter Ajinkya Rahane, saying that the adage "form is temporary but class is permanent" is true for them. 

Both Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane have received a lot of flak for their poor performances and their place in the team was also under scanner due to continuous failures. 

In the first innings of the ongoing second Test against South Africa in Johannesburg, both the batters struggled to get going, which only worsened their case more. 

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While Pujara scored just 3 runs, Rahane bagged a golden duck and their failure in the first innings even made batting great Sunil Gavaskar say that the second innings of the ongoing Johannesburg Test could be their last chance. 

Coming into the second innings, after India lost both the openers, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane stood tall for the team and scored counter-attacking half-centuries. The duo smashed a 111-run partnership and helped their side set South Africa a fighting target of 240 runs. 

Addressing the press conference at the end of Day 3 of the ongoing second Test against South Africa, Cheteshwar Pujara when asked if he and Ajinkya Rahane felt pressure after Sunil Gavaskar’s comments’ regarding their place in the team, said that they were confident as the team management backs them. 

He said that Sunil Gavaskar has always supported him and he along with Rahane have learned a lot from him. 

"We are confident and there is a lot of backing from team management. We have always been learning from Sunny bhai and whenever I have spoken to him, he has always been supportive," Cheteshwar Pujara said. 

Pujara admitted that questions will be asked when runs will dry up but players like him and Ajinkya Rahane are confident players and they work hard on their game. He quipped that saying form is temporary but class is permanent suits well in their case. 

He added that he and Rahane have done well in the past and the team management has shown a lot of faith in him. He stressed that by scoring runs, they repaid the faith of management. 

"Yes, there are times when you are going through bad form, there will be questions but we are confident players. Myself and Ajinkya and we know we are working hard on our game and there's a saying form is temporary but class is permanent and it applies here. 

"We have done well in the past and management has shown a lot of faith in us and it has paid for sure and once a batter is back in form, you keep scoring runs and keep going up and up," he said. 

Pujara said that except for the outside noise, everyone in the team has been behind the players. He stressed that when the players are short of runs it’s important for them to follow the right routine and keep working on the game. He was confident of continuing his good form. 

"The team management has always been supportive except the outside noise, coaching staff, captain everyone has been behind the players. 

“There are times when you don't get too many runs but it is important to follow the right routine and keep working on the game because at times, you won't get runs but if you follow the right processes, you will get runs and this is what has happened. I am sure this form will continue,” he said. 

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Pujara admitted that using a heavy roller on the pitch makes batting easy but said that they are expecting that variable bounce will come into play.

"I think with a heavy roller, the pitch settles a bit, it takes a little bit of time for cracks to open up as the dents are there and it settles down a bit. After an hour or so it starts having variable bounce, that's what we are expecting tomorrow, the first hour it might play nicely," he said. 

Cheteshwar Pujara further backed Rishabh Pant, who also came under scanner after throwing his wicket in the second innings, to come good in the series. 

"We all know that Rishabh plays an attacking game. While he didn't get runs in this game, he will surely come good in the coming games," he said. 

(PTI Inputs)