Cheteshwar Pujara has a mind that seems incapable of getting distracted. With single, pointed attention, he continues to live in the present, focusing on the cricket ball and responding to its speed and variations in an attempt to wear down the opposition.It is these qualities and the immeasurable value they bring to a team, that had somehow in the past, escaped those who decide the playing XI. Otherwise what explains the logic of keeping him out of the side.
In the aggressive lane our cricket world loves to be in, Pujara was thought to be an old-fashioned relic who acts like a speed-breaker, slowing down the rapid progress a team wants to make. India, in a tear-away hurry to stamp its number one status on the world map, believed that defense is no longer the foundation on which a batsman can build a strong structure. The bread and butter of a modern day player is T20 cricket and any one incapable of batting at super-sonic speed, is not worthy of our attention.
The Indians have for centuries appreciated the value of patience, much reflected in their cricket history as well. The last decade has seen a sudden break from the past. They have got so blinded by this speed revolution, represented by the rapid evolution of the T20 format in India, that the likes of Pujara are being shunned. The Indians went to South Africa and England with this attitude and much to their discomfort, suffered. Each time they had to fall back on those old virtues of Test cricket and bring back Pujara so that its batting line-up could find an anchor.
Mercifully, India has learnt from its immediate past and Pujara’s name was there in the opening Test itself. The magnificent victory at Adelaide, in a match that was any day more gripping and enthralling than any of those “contrived” last ball T20 finishes, was in many ways an ode to Test cricket. Unlike scoring rates in excess of a run a ball, runs were at a premium.
Two runs an over were a luxury and most batsmen were defending for their lives. The bowlers were making the best look vulnerable and only those with supreme technique, patience and self-belief could survive. This attritional contest was as engrossing as any battle can be and if in the end India triumphed, it was due to that man whom they had derided not too long ago for his ultra caution and for being too slow.
Pujara, the man of the match, whose superbly crafted century in the first innings laid the foundation for this historic victory, had put even Virat Kohli in the shade. This man of steely nerves and amazing concentration is not a strokeless wonder as many would like us to believe. At the end of his innings, when running short of partners, Pujara showed his wide range of strokes in an attempt to score quickly. For Pujara the display of monumental patience is not born out of necessity but is obviously a well rehearsed strategy.
In the second innings too Pujara was his cool, unflappable self, never letting the bowlers or the pressure get the better of him. For India it should also be a matter of much satisfaction that this victory was achieved even without Kohli contributing much.That India did well despite their captain not scoring his customary hundred, is in itself positive news. Pujara has shown that India is not a one-man batting side and as we move forward in the series this augurs well for India, who should now be favourites to win the series.