Cheteshwar Pujara credits playing white-ball cricket for Sussex, Saurashtra for super show against Bangladesh

Indiabatter Cheteshwar Pujara was named the Player of the Series during Bangladesh Tests forhis superb performance. He scored 222 runs across four innings and also ended his century-drought in the first Test in Chattogram when he scored an unbeaten 102 off 132 balls in the second innings, which is fairly quick given Pujara’s overall strike-rate of 44.44 in Tests.

In the first match where most of the batters failed to convert their starts in big scores, Pujara kept the scoreboard ticking in both innings -hitting 90 and 102. His array of shots was something that caught everyone’s eye.

Upon receiving his award, Pujara was seen talking on BCCI’s official handle with Ravi Ashwin where he credited playing white-ball cricket for Sussex and Saurashtra as the reason for him returning to form.

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"I was pretty happy with the way things went, particularly in the second innings (of the first Test) because that was the ideal situation for me to showcase the shots which I have been practicing. A lot of credit has to go to the amount of white-ball cricket I played for Sussex and Saurashtra," Pujara said.

Pujara added those stints not only gave him confidence but it was during then onlythat he was able to introduce new shots to his armoury as well.

"It helped me gain confidence, I was playing those shots before that as well, but in Tests you always kind of hesitate, you always want to put a price on your wicket, you don't want to take the risk when you can score runs down the ground," he added.

Pujara, however, wasn’t able to replicate his form in the following Test in Dhaka where he could just manage 30 runs across both innings (24 and 6).

India’s next Test assignment is a four-match Test series against Australia at home early next year, which is also part of the WTC cycle. For India to qualify for the finals, they need to beat the mighty Aussies by a considerable margin, for which Cheteshwar Pujara’s form will play a keen role.