No talk of inferior strike rate this time as India skipper Kolhi raises a toast to the Saurashtra batsman Pujara's passion, hardwork and of course, the tons of runs
Cheteshwar Pujara plays an on-drive during his 133 in the first innings of the second Test against Sri Lanka on Thursday. Pic/AP, PTI
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Few months ago, India captain Virat Kohli had openly expressed his concern over Cheteshwar Pujara's slow strike rate. But the Rajkot run machine's scores in this series and the way he has accumulated runs, have forced his skipper to change his opinion oabout him. It's also clear that Pujara has become one of Kohli's most trusted lieutenants in the team.
Solid up there
"Pujara is a guy with a lot of mental strength. He thinks a lot about his game and tries to find ways to do well. Obviously, he has the game and he knows how to score runs, which is the most important thing. But he has evolved massively as a batsman since then," said Kohli during the post-match press conference after India's win here yesterday. Pujara is the highest scorer in both teams so far in the series [301 runs] with back-to-back hundreds and a best of 153 in the Galle Test. He scored 133 in this Test and in three innings his strike rate reads 56.57.
On India's mainstay at No. 3 for quite sometime now, Kohli said: "Pujara's game has gone to another level. If you see his performance last season, and even now, he's got about 1500 runs, which is outstanding. All credit goes to the hardwork he puts to improve his game. He scores runs in all conditions that we are play in and I think that is the most important thing for us." The skipper also went on to say that Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane are the two best Test batsmen in the middle order.
'The best'
"Pujara and Ajinkya are our two best Test batsmen, especially in the middle order. They've been doing so well consistently. I would give more credit to Pujara because he only plays one format for India, and to be able to have that hunger and passion day in day out, working hard, coming out and having those consistent performances take a lot of mental strength," he added.
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