Pune: South Africa pacer Kagiso Rabada did try to disturb Cheteshwar Pujara’s concentration on the opening day of the second Test here Thursday, but the ploy hardly bothered the senior India batsman as he was ‘in his own zone’.
Kagiso Rabad did say a few words to Pujara after dismissing him for 58, perhaps letting a bit of his frustration out as he was unlucky not to get him out on zero due to a dropped catch.
Asked what exactly Rabada said, Cheteshwar Pujara replied that he doesn’t remember the conversation. “I can’t remember what he said. But he (Rabada) is someone who always likes to say something to batsmen,” Pujara told reporters.
“As a batsman, I always know that he (Rabada) will try to disturb my concentration, not just him but any bowler, who passes a comment, so I try and avoid (listening to) what they say,” said India’s dependable No. 3 batsman.
“If you are in your zone, you hardly hear what they are trying to say as you are too much focused on what you want to do as batsman. So when you are in your own zone, you miss out what they (bowlers) are saying,” Pujara informed avoiding any controversy.
Pujara made 58 off 112 deliveries before being dismissed.
Pujara was also all praise for relatively new Indian opener Mayank Agarwal. The opener scored his second Test hundred in as many games against South Africa, starting with a double hundred in the series- opener in Visakhapatnam.
“He (Agarwal) is an experienced player, who has scored so many first class runs, which has helped him a lot. And when it comes to being nervous in his 90s, he is someone who is fearless,” Pujara replied, when asked about the Karnataka opener showing little sign of nerves.
Pujara has seen a lot of Mayank Agarwal in the domestic arena and believes it is the consistent scores in domestic cricket that has made him what he is today.
“Mayank knows how to convert fifties into big scores and at the same time, once he goes past hundred, he can score heavily as we saw in the last game,” said Pujara, who was involved in a 138-run stand with the centurion.
Pujara himself looked in fine nick as he took opposition’s premier spinner Keshav Maharaj on.
“Earlier on, I felt there wasn’t enough spin on this pitch, so we thought that it was important to score as many runs as possible against spinners. Later on, there was a little bit of turn in the second session, so we had to be a little careful,” Pujara pointed out.
Agencies
