The wicket was really challenging, says Pujara

For someone like Cheteshwar Pujara, who has painstakingly chiselled his way to success, all that he needs in times of duress, is a small reassurance.

“The best thing came out of Rahul bhai [Dravid],” he said following his century.

“When I was playing with India ‘A’ he said that there was nothing wrong with my technique. He watched me in the nets and told me that there was a big one coming very soon.”

Terming the wicket, one of the toughest he has played on, Pujara, in reiteration of basic batting principles, said that he tried to play close to the body. On this day Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and R. Ashwin were all caught fending outside the off-stump.

“The main thing I noticed, a few players got out because they played away.

“The wicket was really challenging and you can’t blame the player. But you need to survive and the main thing I did was play close to the body.

“It felt like you can’t play any shots. You just have to keep defending and when you get a loose ball, you just convert it.”

Once each on days one and two, an edge off Pujara’s bat fell short of the slip cordon.

“When I went in it reminded me of playing in South Africa where I had scored 153 on a tough wicket.

“I knew that if played with soft hands, the ball would not carry to the slips. It was really important.”

The 27-year-old also praised Amit Mishra, who scored his third Test half-century, and helped take the side to the threshold of the 300-run mark.

“He batted really well which has allowed us to put on 292. He faced the second new ball and had we lost a wicket then, things would have been very different.”