“It’s always important to bat up the order. I like challenges. We had to put up a big total. When we were losing a few wickets, it was important that I stayed and built partnerships. When you are at No. 3, you often get to face the new ball. It’s a big responsibility,” said Pujara after his unbeaten double century against England.
“There is nothing wrong with the wicket. We’ve got three wickets and the ball is turning. With the kind of momentum we got in the 18 overs, I think we can bowl them out tomorrow. Obviously we’d like to finish the game before five days. It’s going to be a challenging task for them.”
“We utilised the conditions better than they did. I would like to mention that it was good that I got out on 87 in the practice game (Mumbai ‘A’). If I had ended up scoring a hundred, I wouldn’t have had the same motivation to make a 100 and then 200 in this game. I was comfortable facing all the bowlers.
“Initially, my concern was Graeme Swann because I hadn’t faced him before. But after I faced a couple of overs against him I felt that I could manage,” said Pujara, revealing that Rahul Dravid had sent him a congratulatory message.
Pujara also credited Duncan Fletcher for his coaching methods. “He keeps things very simple. He has a very good knowledge of the game and he doesn’t interfere much with technique. But there were a few minor points he told me before this match and that helped me.
“We have put in the hard yards. We know what we can do tomorrow. On this wicket, you can wear teams down and that’s what they did. We have two world-class batsmen at the crease and Bell is still to come. When it (ball) gets soft, we can get in. Cook and Kev (Pietersen) should bat long and get big hundreds. I don’t think you can be too defensive,” said Samit Patel.
“You have to let the bowler know that you are not there just to survive. It’s not a bad Test match wicket, it’s a good Test match wicket. You have to accept the fact that deterioration of the wicket day by day happens.So, we have to play good cricket,” he said.
