Rest of India captain Cheteshwar Pujara praised the spin duo of Pragyan Ojha and youngster Harmeet Singh, who shared six wickets between them in Rajasthan’s second innings. The two spinners did not get a single wicket in the first innings but played key role in the second in team’s big win.
Pujara said the spinners’ job was to contain Rajasthan in the first innings as the ball was nicely coming on to the bat on the first two days.
Good start to season
“In the second innings, Pragyan Ojha and Harmeet Singh bowled well and gave our team victory,” he said. “Definitely, it was a convincing victory, and it is a good start to the season.”
“We had a strong team. We needed to deliver and I am happy with the way the match went,” he said.
Asked if he was happy with Ishant Sharma’s and Umesh Yadav’s bowling performance, Pujara said they bowled a little short in first session of first innings but came back strongly by pitching the ball in right areas in the second and third sessions. “We got six wickets in third session of the first day,” he pointed out.
Pujara said Ishant was coming back from an injury and it was normal for him to be a little wayward. “However, he is getting back into a rhythm,” he said.
Asked whether the wicket was any different from when India played New Zealand, Pujara said it was similar as few balls were keeping low on third and fourth days.
“I played my debut match here against Australia. Even at that time balls were keeping low on third and fourth days. That is expected out of this wicket,” he said.
Lauds Vijay
On M. Vijay’s double ton, Pujara said the Tamil Nadu opener is known to score big hundreds.
“The wicket was flat, but to score more than 250 is creditable. To get that much on any wicket requires concentration and patience which he showed,” he said.
