cricket

Updated: Jan 07, 2019 18:44 IST

Virat Kohli was beaming. Ravi Shastri was vociferous. Kohli faced questions with a smile, Shastri was well, being Shastri. India clinched the series, no ball was bowled on the final day, the celebrations broke in the dressing room, India would have wanted to clinch the match at Sydney and walk away with another added spring to their stride.

So now we sit back and pause. Kohli-Shastri was not shy one bit in heaping praise on Cheteshwar Pujara, he walked away with the man of the series. And yet, the duo have dropped him four times in their tenure. So when Pujara sauntered up to receive the award after peeling off 521 runs from 1258 balls, he could have turned back and asked the management, do you trust me now?

He does not have an IPL contract, he has now stopped caring. Yes, he has ambitions to play in the white-ball format, but even Yuvraj Singh has ambitions of being picked for the 2019 World Cup. What is life without any ambition? But, Pujara quickly adds, he will focus on his own game, he will prioritise Test cricket and away from the bash and bang of IPL, he will wrap himself in woollens and play in County Cricket.

“As a batsman, you just need to get used to pace and bounce. Playing in different conditions, in South Africa, in England, in county cricket has helped me improve my technique. For me, it’s about the right preparation,” he said at the post-match presentation.

The dance he couldn’t do, but who cares? ( AP )

Rishabh Pant yaps behind the stumps, has already inspired a song by the Bharat Army and keeps on bouncing around. He asked the Indian team to break into an impromptu jig after the match and the players chipped in. Not Pujara. He was in a corner, still in his bubble, stonewalling the bowlers.

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“You’ll have to ask Rishabh that, he came up with that and we just went along. I don’t know what he was trying to do to be honest. It just felt very good, it was very easy but Pujara couldn’t even do that. You can see how simple he is,” Kohli said about the dance.

“That was the Pujara dance because when he walks, he doesn’t move his hands, it’s more of an extension of his walk that Rishabh came up with and we just joined in,” Kohli further explained.

He walks with a stutter, the knee keeps reminding him that he is not agile, the bubble keeps coercing him back in, convincing him he has to stay put, graft and bury the bowling attacks.

Nathan Lyon, wheeled away all series, he was tricky in Adelaide. Pujara found new ways to bunt him. In Sydney when Pujara tucked him away for a single, Lyon looked at him and asked, “Mate aren’t you bored yet?”

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With a sheepish smirk, Pujara adjusted his box and walked away. Australia did not find one method to get rid of him and Pujara never gets bored. So either ways, there was only one winner in this contest. His footwork was absent in that Pant-dance, but his footwork with the bat and with the pads on was exemplary.

We come back to Kohli and Shastri at the post-match conference. Both could not talk enough about his role in the side, both could not even think about this win without Pujara’s 1258 balls.

Pujara does not need to turn back and ask his leaders about his worth. He does not need to show ‘intent’, he does not need to justify his ‘strike rate’, he just needs to pad up and walk out and block, nurdle, block, accumulate.

Test cricket has its own place, Pujara is ensuring that place. No questions need to be asked, plenty of answers already being given.