Last Updated on 9 months ago by Charbel Coorey
India has every chance of winning the series: Cheteshwar Pujara | Cheteshwar Pujara believes India can win another Test series in Australia
Cheteshwar Pujara gave a phenomenal performance in the 2018-19 Australia Test series, as he struck three centuries in seven innings. Even now the right-hand batsman feels that history can repeat itself. In an exclusive interaction with PTI, Pujara said that India has every chance of winning the Test series again in Australia if they can repeat their great performance from 2018-19.
The India-Australia series is going to be an interesting one, as Virat Kohli the captain of the Indian team is taking time off as the couple welcomes their first child, and David Warner and Steven Smith are back after the ball-tampering ban. While things look tricky for the Indian team on paper, Pujara’s moral seems pretty strong.
“The Australian batting line-up will be a little stronger than what it was in 2018-19, but then victories don’t come easy. If you want to win away from home, you need to work hard. No doubt Smith, Warner, and Marnus Labuschagne are great players. But the good part about our current crop of bowlers is that most of them play in the same series, and our bowling unit will also not be very different from what it was in 2018-19”, he said.
Apart from Pujara’s 123 and 71 in Adelaide that made him earn Man of the Match and Rishabh Pant’s 350 runs, Bumrah’s 21 and Shami’s 16 wickets were also the highlights of the Down Under series. “They know how to be successful in Australia as they have enjoyed success there in the past. They have their game-plans in place and if we can execute them well, they are capable of getting Smith, Warner, and Labuschagne out quickly. If we can do what we have done in the past, I am sure we have every chance of winning the series again”, he said.
India is set to play its first Day/Night Test game in a foreign country, which will be held in Adelaide. Pujara believes Adelaide will be a little challenging as the surface will be different. “It will be a different challenge altogether playing with the pink ball as the pace and bounce also change,” he said. “We will be playing with the pink Kookaburra in Australia (against Bangladesh, India played with the pink SG ball). It will be slightly different. As a team and as individuals, one has to understand and accept and get used to it (pink ball and lights) as early [as] possible. There will be a bit of difference with the pink ball. The twilight period is more challenging than other periods, but as you play more and practice more, you get used to it. It does take a little while”, he said.
Pujara has not played any match in the past 10 months after he last featured for Saurashtra in the Ranji Trophy final against Bengal in March. The Rajkot player along with Hanuman Vihari landed in Dubai a week earlier to train for some time, after which they left for Australia along with the rest of the squad. “Even during the last tour, my preparation was good. I am confident that I will be able to repeat the same preparation before this series also,” Pujara said. “I always try and add a few more things in my game, which will help me get better.”
Written by Anjali Jha. Follow Anjali on Twitter today.
