INDIA TOUR OF AUSTRALIA, 2018-19

Pujara - Batting with the no-death code on

by Bharat Sundaresan • Last updated on

Pujara notched up his third hundred of the tour to put India in control © Getty

Cheteshwar Pujara owes his inexhaustible patience at the crease to the Nintendo games he played as a kid. It's likely you're surprised reading that. Maybe you are shocked. At least it's left you with a raised eyebrow. For, Pujara and video-games just doesn't seem an ideal match, even now in an era where Indian cricketers are forever expressing their fondness for Playstation. But to think India's most reliant, most old-school Test cricketer actually grew up obsessing over his handheld console?

The story goes that when Pujara was in school, his mother had a deal with him. She would let him indulge in his video-games if he agreed to sit and say his prayers for 10 minutes before each session. It was a deal that Arvind Pujara, the cricket-mad father, wasn't very fond of and even referred to as "blackmail" but gave in to anyway. In his mother's view, the blackmail was worth it, as she felt it would make sure her son learnt a lot about religion and therefore about being "balanced in the mind", even if it meant him spending an extra half hour with the Nintendo. Arvind eventually stopped complaining too. He realized that the balanced mind was also teaching his son the most important virtue required to be successful with the bat in the longest format - the ability to forget the previous ball and focus solely on what was coming at him at that moment.

His late mother's bribe has certainly paid dividends for Pujara over the last few years, and especially over the last few weeks Down Under. And if anything, he's actually batted like he's in a video-game, one in which he's attained an immortality code. Like on Thursday at the SCG, after all, rarely have the Australian bowlers looked like getting their biggest nemesis out. Hardly have they come close to doing so. The second innings at the MCG was an aberration when he nudged Pat Cummins to leg gully. It didn't matter. But when it has mattered, Pujara has come across as that incredibly testing challenge, which only few can overcome, played with the difficulty level set on "hard". At times, it's seemed like a hard grind for Pujara himself, but he's ensured that the grind has been harder for the opposition.

While narrating the video-game incident last year, Arvind Pujara had also slipped in his apprehension over his son's new-found love for Playstation, insisting that it could spoil his eyesight. He couldn't be convinced about that not being the case even despite the junior Pujara's repeated assertions that he only indulges in them to give his mind a break like how some of the most reputed business honchos around the world do. But he did admit grudgingly that along with the prayers, perhaps the time spent on the console may have played a role in honing a young Cheteshwar's ability to never let his mind waver from the job at hand.

For like with batting, there's hardly any scope for you to relax completely while battling the basic but relentless challenges posed by handheld video-games. For one, you cannot take your fingers off the console even for a second, and you are more or less always just a single mistake or slip-up away from "game over". No wonder you'll rarely see Pujara even take a few steps away from the crease while on strike like some batsmen do to keep their focus. All he needs is that hard and conscious grab on the bat handle before he's ready for whatever is coming his way.

Already the Australians have thrown everything they have at him in this series. If anything they had done so in the first innings of the Adelaide Test itself. There might be some consideration about whether they did always get their lines right to him early on. Maybe they could have been a lot straighter when he was new at the crease rather than getting sucked into bowling outside his off-stump and waiting for a mistake, a plan that has worked on occasions with Virat Kohli and the other batsmen. But the way Pujara has gone, it's unlikely even that would have worked. They did try targeting his stumps briefly on Boxing Day. But such is the dominance he's created over them, without ever trying to be dominant, that they couldn't quite sustain the pressure. He always has seemed to have more time than them. He always has seemed to have more patience than them. He's outlasted them first before outplaying them.

At times, it's seemed like a hard grind for Pujara himself, but he's ensured that the grind has been harder for the opposition ©Getty

To the extent that it looks quite often like he's playing them based purely on muscle-memory. No wonder batting seems like a different proposition when he's on strike as compared to the others, regardless of whether there's spice on the pitch or not. When Josh Hazlewood revealed that Pujara was a bigger wicket for his team than Kohli, most took it as a tongue-in-cheek barb at the Indian captain. Maybe it was too. But you can't deny the factual element of the statement.

Take Thursday morning. Mitchell Starc had finally got his shape back with the new-ball, and had bowled one of his best overs of the series to start the day. The Kookaburra was moving in the air and then jagging back sharply off the pitch. Josh Hazlewood had produced one outside-edge off KL Rahul that flew away safely, before producing another one that had him caught at slip. The pitch had a green tinge and there was talk of Kohli having called right on a "good toss to lose". But then in walked Pujara. And the game changed completely, like it has with his arrival each time during all four Tests.

Starc, Hazlewood and then Pat Cummins came charging in ball after ball. But their efforts seemed pointless, and you couldn't help but feel bad for them, as they kept being greeted on the other end of the pitch by the middle of Pujara's bat. When the ball stopped moving, they turned to banging it as hard as they could on a short of length and trying to bounce Pujara out. He wore a few blows on the body, including a painful strike to the left shoulder while ducking, but he just jumped back into position, grabbed his bat handle and was ready for more. The third century of the series looked inevitable from the moment he walked out. It just did, and you knew even the Aussies knew it even if it never deterred them from giving their all.

For, unlike in a video-game, Pujara hasn't had infinite lives this series. He's only got one. He's only needed one. And it's been game over for the Aussies.

© Cricbuzz

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