India’s Test specialist, Cheteshwar Pujara, who recently revealed that he will soon become a father, is optimistic about the Indian team putting up a good show in South Africa.
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Arguably one of the best Test batsman in the world right now, Pujara’s innings will be of a lot of importance for the Indian batting line up.
Speaking to the press ahead of the 1st Test at Newlands Stadium in Cape Town, the batsman opened up on India’s chances, saying that the bowling unit is incredibly strong this time round.
Team India has had a poor record playing in the Rainbow Nation, with the statistics favouring the Proteas.
However, India has emerged as a powerful unit under Virat Kohli. The team has reached new heights in recent times, but critics have pointed out that most of the success has come at home in India.
With South Africa being an unforgiving host for visitors, no one can really predict the result of the series. However, India’s strong bowling line-up will be a plus for the Men in Blue this time.
“As a unit, our fast bowling is much better this time. We have all the fast bowlers and they are quick so I think we have that advantage this time. Overall our bowling unit is very strong this time,” Pujara revealed.
Pitches in South Africa have historically troubled the Indian batters, who do not entertain bouncers very much. However, senior Indian players of the team, including Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, tend to enjoy the bouncers a lot.
It will be interesting too see what the Newlands pitch will have to offer, but Pujara remained confident about it not mattering much. Pujara looked focused and revealed the team had wonderful net sessions so far.
“Preparation has been fantastic so far. Whatever net session we have had we are confident. We had three net sessions so far. We guys are very confident. Before we came here, when were playing Sri Lanka series, we spoke about how we want to go about this series. Obviously we are here to win the series. We are very confident and we had our plans,” the 29-year-old added.
The demons from the past teach quite a lesson and Pujara is one person who always learns from his mistakes. Talking about his approach on bouncy tracks, he said it’s imperative to leave the ball well.
“It is always important to leave the ball well when you play overseas. Once you move out of India, Asia, there is enough bounce on the pitch and that is the reason one should be able to leave the ball,” he clarified. Discussing on Dale Steyn’s return in the South African squad, the Rajkot local revealed that the team did not care about who their playing and who they aren’t.
