Cheteshwar Pujara smashed 162 in his debut for MRC ‘A’ team against Crombest Club in Tamil Nadu first division league on the request of his national teammate Ravichandran Ashwin. The dependable batsman of India in the Test Cricket, Pujara, has proved his worth many times for the country and once again he did it for the club cricket where he didn’t think about the level of the competition. However, the game was “important game”, felt Pujara and he was convinced that he needed to play the game.
However, Pujara expressed his thoughts behind his playing in the club game.
“Basically, I wanted to get some match practice in between and also you need to be in touch with the game. Ashwin told me it was an important game for the club, so I came over to play the match,” said Pujara on his playing for MRC. “Obviously, I have had a long season and am trying to monitor my workload as well. Overall, I think when you are playing good cricket, it is good to play some odd matches in between and take things forward from here,” he added.
“I have heard good things about the TNCA league from some of the Saurashtra teammates. It is good to play on such wickets as playing on such pitches helps me prepare better. If you are doing well in club cricket, you gain a lot of confidence. When it comes to playing spin, this experience will help,” he further added.
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However, the last year and the earlier this year has gone pretty well for Pujara in the Test Cricket.
“See…the important thing is to be in touch with the game. Also, I have been batting well this season. It has been fantastic. I think especially the Australia series was really important and the way we played. Even personally I think it gave me lot of confidence… I have realised my game even better.”
Pujara has also played in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and scored runs as well.
“It was a matter of time and I have been scoring runs regularly. There was a phase where I didn’t score too many runs in Test cricket. 2018 and (first part of) 2019 has been good so far and I would just like to continue from where I have left. I was playing some matches for Saurashtra. I played Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and scored some runs even there. So things are changing. I am scoring runs even in shorter formats now,” he explained to the reporters.
Pujara’s 232-ball 162 has comprised of 18 boundaries and a six and MRC ‘A’ managed to put up 309 for 3 on the first day after 90 overs.
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