Kolkata: Cheteshwar Pujara, who has been India’s standout performer in the last 12 months wearing the white flannels, stated Thursday that he still has a lot of areas to improve on and his best is yet to come.
“As a cricketer, I always feel my best is yet to come and I have been working hard for it,” Pujara, told this agency in a telephonic interview. “I am performing well, but I still feel there are areas I can improve and even perform better. So this is not the best phase of my life. I think the best is yet to come,” added the 29-year-old.
In the last year or so, the Saurashtra batsman has gone from strength to strength, becoming the new Mr Dependable in Virat Kohli’s Test team.
The second-highest run getter in Sri Lanka, amassing 309 in three games, which included two centuries, Pujara has been India’s most consistent batsman alongside Kohli since the team’s return from the tour of the West Indies last year. He aggregated 1,316 runs from 13 matches in the 2016-17 home season.
Pujara said that playing county cricket for Nottinghamshire has helped him a great deal. “This was my third season (in county cricket). My first was for Derbyshire and then Yorkshire. This time I played for Nottinghamshire. So I’ve always enjoyed playing county cricket,” informed Pujara, who struck a century and a half-century in five innings of four games for Nottinghamshire this season.
“The wickets are always challenging; there is always something in it for the fast bowlers. So when you start scoring runs you feel confident as you start knowing your technique better. The culture and the atmosphere also (helps). I always have a good time playing over there and I learn a lot,” added the middle-order batsman.
Asked about the way India virtually bulldozed Sri Lanka, Pujara said the team played to their strengths after well-tuned preparations.
“We have always backed our strengths. All our batsmen and bowlers were very well prepared for the Test series. As a team we outplayed them. They were a decent team, but we were stronger. We are the No. 1 Test team in the world and we played like that,” asserted the cricketer.
Indo-Asian News Service