Cheteshwar Pujara: I don’t need extra motivation to play cricket

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India’s one-drop batsman Cheteshwar Pujara plays a shot during the second day’s play of the Galle Test yesterday. Pics/AFP

Walk through almost any residential street of Galle and you will find stencilled paintings of Che Guevara, the revolutionary communist, staring back at you. At the Galle International Stadium, however, it was another Che, Pujara from Gujarat, who dominated the day.

While he might have been overshadowed on the first day, when Shikhar Dhawan stole the limelight with his rapid innings, Pujara’s 153 stood head and shoulders above the rest on the scorecard as India made an even 600 and then reduced Sri Lanka to 154 for 5.

‘No need of motivation’
Pujara, who is in his element in his whites out in the middle, did not try harder to do well in Tests simply because he doesn’t get picked in limited overs cricket. “I think, whenever I play cricket, whether it’s at the international level or first-class, I enjoy this game. I don’t need any extra motivation as far as cricket is concerned because I love playing this game,” said Pujara. “I love my batting, so whenever I get the opportunity to score runs, I always like the challenge.”

Lanka pacer Nuwan Pradeep celebrates the dismissal of Cheteshwar Pujara yesterday

The fact that the pitch was a belter when India batted, but began to take a bit more turn when Sri Lanka replied, did not in any way take away from the degree of control and safety Pujara brought to the Indian innings, handling all bowlers with aplomb. “As a batsman, you always want to perform well on challenging pitches. When I got my 145 on the last tour here, it was at the Sinhalese Sports Club.

“That particular wicket was more challenging than this one. When you score a hundred on such wickets, it is more satisfying,” said Pujara. “But when you are doing a job for the team, I always enjoy scoring hundreds. When you are playing Test cricket and if you have an opportunity to score a hundred, you might as well score more than 100, as many runs as possible.”

If it was just another day in the office for Pujara, the occasion was special for Hardik Pandya in that he was playing his first Test innings, and to end up with 50 at better than a run a ball showed just why Virat Kohli rates this player so highly.

It was even more special for Nuwan Pradeep, who ended with 6 for 132, the first five-wicket haul of his career. Pradeep revealed the secret behind clocking his milestone. “When you get four wickets, you have to bowl 15-16 overs, and you’re very tired after that,” explained Pradeep. “If you’re bowling more than that you still have to maintain that intensity and still bowl quickly. I think I did that today.” While Pradeep was happy with his returns, Chaminda Vaas, the bowling coach was not especially happy with the manner in which his team had batted.

Vaas critical of batsmen
“If any side gets 600 there is pressure on the opposition team’s batsmen. But even so, we didn’t bat well. Some batsmen got out early. That’s something that a team can’t tolerate — but that’s the nature of the game,” said Vaas. “At the moment Angelo Mathews and Dilruwan Perera are batting well, so tomorrow hopefully they will stay at the wicket and bat well until lunch. If we can bat until tea we might be able to escape danger.”