When the Indian team traveled to Australia in 2018-19 and defeated the Kangaroos 2-1 in their own backyard. Cheteshwar Pujara was a crucial component.
Cheteshwar Pujara has established himself as India’s most difficult red-ball custodian. His record against Australia demonstrates his temperament and unwavering resolve.
When India traveled to Australia in 2018-19 and defeated the Kangaroos 2-1 in their own backyard. Pujara was a crucial component of the team.
After that, Pujara was the series’ leading run scorer, scoring 521 runs in four matches. Including three centuries and one half-century.
Fast forward one year, and Pujara didn’t put on a show like that on the 2020-21 tour. However, he did finish as the Indian team’s second-highest run-scorer, scoring 274 runs in four games.
He also boasts a very good overall record against the Kangaroos and has scored the most runs in his career against them in the longer format.
On the other hand, when Pujara was asked to rank his best innings. The batter felt that each pitch affected him differently.
In an interview with the Times of India, Pujara mentioned his outstanding performance against Australia, saying. ” I value each and every one of my knocks. Rating them will be difficult.
However, I am able to mention some of my favorite knocks against Australia, not in order of ranking. I’ll begin with my first two innings. Doing so is always important when you’re playing your first game.
I’ll never forget those 72 runs I scored. I was under a lot of pressure. I was anxious as a child because I had not performed well in the first inning.
I wanted to demonstrate that I was capable of competing at the international level because I had scored a lot of runs in domestic cricket.
“After that, the 92 in the second innings against Australia in Bangalore in 2017 We were trailing behind.
We had been cheaply struck out in the first inning when they had an 87-run lead, and we were 120 for 4 in the second inning. After that, Ajinkya and I played a match-defining partnership of 118 runs, and my knock was also decisive.
“Then the 123 at Adelaide in December 2018 will always be very special for me and the team because we were 41 for 4 and then 127 for 6 in the first innings.
I had little partnerships with Rohit (Sharma) and Ashwin and then with the tailenders, and we ended up putting 250 on the board.
This is why the 123 at Adelaide will always be very special for me and the team. Because it enabled our bowlers to bowl them out for 235 and remain in the game, that was a special knock.
Naturally, the 56 at the Gabba in January 2021 will never be forgotten. Being able to stay in the middle after being hit so many times was a special knock for me.
To continue fighting against such a strong bowling lineup was a completely different motivation for winning that Test and series.
The batsmen were not in a good position given the circumstances. As a result, you had to fight to get out.
In a highly anticipated Test series that starts on February 9 in Nagpur, the two teams will once again clash. As India is unable to employ Rishabh Pant, Ajinkya Rahane, or Jasprit Bumrah, Pujara will once more hold the key.
Bumrah hasn’t fully recovered from his back injury. Pant is still recovering from his horrific car accident and is likely to miss a lot of cricket.
It will be interesting to see the young batters shoulder the middle-order responsibility. Especially against a challenging Australian attack, as Rahane. Who led India to the famous victory in 2020-21, has not been considered.