After having a great domestic career, Mayank Agarwal scores back to back centuries in Test cricket as well. However, he knows the art of conversion, feels Cheteshwar Pujara. Agarwal has scored his second Test hundred in as many games against South Africa, starting with a double ton in the first game in Visakhapatnam.

“He (Agarwal) is an experienced player, who has scored so many first-class runs, which has helped him a lot. And when it comes to being nervous in his 90s, he is someone who is fearless,” Pujara replied.

“Mayank knows how to convert fifties into big scores and at the same time, once he goes past hundred, he can score heavily as we saw in the last game,” said Pujara. “That habit (for big scores) has come from first class cricket, so I didn’t have to tell him much. To be honest, we were just communicating what their gameplan was.”

“If there was an error in his batting, I would just tell him to play close to his body, when I thought his bat was going away. Apart from that, he is batting really well and you don’t have to guide him much,” he added.

Pujara too was looking good in the series.

“Earlier on, I felt there wasn’t enough spin on this pitch, so we thought that it was important to score as many runs as possible against spinners. Later on, there was a little bit of turn in the second session, so we had to be a little careful,” he said. “When it comes to short-ball bowling, it can be advantageous for the batting team if you try and use it too often. The bowler in this weather gets tired.”

Pujara was happy with the pitch which was offered.

“It’s a true pitch, where if a fast bowler is bowling well, he can also get a batsman out and if you are batsman, there is value for your shots. There was little bit of spin later on. If we have runs on the board, it won’t be easy to bat in the fourth innings,” he said.