Predictably much focus was on Virat Kohli being struck on the helmet by a lifter from Mitchell Johnson when Cheteshwar Pujara spoke after the day’s play here on Thursday.
“The first reaction was for everyone to go to Virat and ask him if he was all right. When I went and asked, he first checked the helmet. He was fine and he carried on,” Pujara said.
He added, “We later discussed about that ball and how to play that ball and how he played it. But he did well to forget that ball and made a crucial century for us. It was fun to watch his innings.”
The right-hander revealed the Indian team wanted to be positive. “We talked about what they have scored on this pitch and the kind of wicket this was. We felt, given the batting line-up we have, we could surely match their score. It was about proving ourselves.”
On his preparation for the series which included a stint with Derbyshire, Pujara said, “The conditions here are quite different from the ones in Derbyshire. But playing there helped me obviously. When you play there in England, you have fast bowlers swinging the ball all the time because they get help from the wicket. The ball also comes sharply off the pitch. You have to be technically correct all the time to survive there and so it does help,” he added
Pujara was pleased with his innings, not the manner of his dismissal. “I didn’t know where the ball was. Later when I saw the replay, I thought I might have kicked the ball but it went quite fast to the stumps and I didn’t have enough time.”
Concern for Kohli
Asked about how everyone felt when Kohli was struck on the helmet, Australia off-spinner Nathan Lyon said, “Your heart skips a beat. I know I went to everyone just to ask if they were okay, because it’s something you don’t want to see again. We were out there for Phil’s (Phillip Hughes) incident and today that sound was pretty familiar. That’s why we all ran in there quite quickly to see if he (Kohli) was okay. It’s something you don’t want to see ever happen again, what happened with Phil.”
He added, “It has been a positive thing as bad as that sounds, we know the helmets work and to have that confidence for our quicks to bowl the bouncer again. We spoke about that at lunch time with Mitch (Mitchell Johnson) so he’s feeling good and I can guarantee he’s going to come out and fire in the second innings and have that aggression we all love him for.”
In fact, Johnson consistently bounced at Wriddhiman Saha late in the day.
Lyon’s rise as Australia’s current No. 1 spinner has been remarkable. He had been part of the ground-staff at the Adelaide Oval in his early years.
The off-spinner relished bowling on the third day pitch here. Apart from the footmarks created by Mitchell Johnson, he was also thankful to the Indians for leaving him with areas to exploit.
“Here it’s pretty easy, we had the big Ishant running down round the wicket to Davey Warner, so I am thankful for him for making some footmarks for me.” Lyon said.
He said the game was in the balance, revealed Siddle went for treatment for an illness, and replied “keeping fingers crossed” when queried about Clarke’s participation in the remaining three Tests.
Lyon was, however, confident that Clarke would take further part in the ongoing Test.
