'You play for so long, you get used to getting hit': Cheteshwar Pujara talks about the Gabba experience

Indian batsman Cheteshwar Pujara earned a lot of praise for his performance in the famous Gabba win against Australia in Brisbane. The batsman scored brave knock of 56 runs in 211 balls (his slowest-ever Test half-century) helped batsmen like Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant to swing their bats freely.

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Despite suffering blows from Australia's world-class pace attack, Pujara stood his ground in order to not lose a wicket and put the visitors under pressure. Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, in particular, led the short ball brigade, as Pujara was hit on different parts of the body at least 10 times.

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"From my early days, I am not in the habit of taking pain- killers. That’s why my threshold to bear pain is pretty high. You play for so long, you get used to getting hit," Pujara told Indian Express.

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"I mostly got hit from one end and that too against (Pat) Cummins. There was this crack on the pitch around the short- of-length spot from where the ball would just take off. Cummins has the skill to make the ball rear up from there and make it follow you. In case I took my hand up to defend it, there was a risk that I would glove the ball. Considering the match situation and how we couldn’t afford to lose wickets, I decided to let the ball hit my body."

During the knock, the ball struck Pujara's finger. The particular blow made batting difficult for the Indian batsman. "It is tough to hold the bat, the grip was slightly loose. So you can’t hit the ball where you want to," he explained.

He talked about the series win and said: "That time (2018-19) it was the first win in Australia but this one is really special."