Cheteshwar Pujara on Saturday praised Rohit Sharma for his brilliant knocks as an opener. Rohit was pushed in the opening slot for the first time in the Test. However, Pujara, although started a bit slow, scoring eight runs off his first 62 balls before Rohit Sharma abused him. After that, he scored 81 off 148 comprised 13 fours and two sixes. On a pitch where Rohit batted easily, Pujara found it difficult to score with ease.

“It was a difficult pitch to bat on. It was not easy to rotate the strike and it was not easy to time the ball well and especially with my game and the kind of shots that I play, I was finding it little difficult early on. I knew that I once I was set, I will able to know the pace of the pitch. Once I knew that (pace of the pitch), I actually changed by point of impact little later on. Yes, earlier on it was bit difficult but once I realized that, I played a few shots and obviously with the same technique,”he said.

Rohit batting superbly which also helped Cheteshwar Pujara to settle down. Talking about Rohit Sharma’s batting and his second hundred of the series, Pujara was all praise for the opener.

“The way Rohit was batting, I felt we were scoring at a decent pace and I could take some extra time to settle down. He batted really well in the first innings also but in the second innings, situation was different. (Especially), to play all those strokes that he did on this wicket. Our partnership was crucial. Our communication was good as he we have batted together since our under-19 days,” he added.

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“It was a joy to watch him bat. Hitting sixes is his strength, he has excelled in white ball cricket. The way he hits sixes is incredible and and as a Test batsman, who wants to improve his ODI and T20 cricket, there is lots to learn from him. Especially, when it comes to hitting the ball out of the park,” added Pujara.