Pujara is silver lining for India after warm-up game washed out

Emerging Player of the Year gets confidence as the middle-order batsman has some experience of the conditions after India are denied practice for the Test series ahead.

Cheteshwar Pujara views the Emerging Player of Year award as a smal step towards success. Aijaz Rahi / AP Photo
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BENONI // India’s preparation for the two-Test series got off to the worst possible start, when the first day of their only practice match – a two-day affair – was abandoned because of a wet outfield.

Ultimately, both today’s second session and the entire match was called off, too.

On the hottest and brightest day of India’s brief African trip, no play was possible because there were damp patches in different parts of the ground as a result of the 800mm of rain that has fallen on Benoni in the past few weeks.

When the entire year’s average quota of rain falls in a matter of weeks, even the best efforts of the groundsmen could not bear fruit.

Umpires Shaun George and Adrian Holdstock took a look at the wet patches and took the decision out of the captains’ hands.

The only positive to emerge from a wasted day was the announcement from the International Cricket Council that Cheteshwar Pujara had been picked as the Emerging Player of the Year.

Pujara, who had his head down, hard at work both in the outdoor and indoor nets, besides taking catches in the outfield and in the slips, was understandably happy to hear the news.

“I believe winning isn’t everything, but the desire to win is,” he said. “This is a small step towards success, but I wish to continue to work harder and live up [to expectations] and serve the nation.”

The previous day, Pujara spoke at length about what needed to be done to succeed in South Africa.

“I think the important thing here is that you need to adjust to the bounce and the lateral movement that is there on the wicket,” he said.

“Since I have played a couple of matches here, it will help me adjust better and I think the preparation time that we had here is also enough and should help us to perform better.”

While Pujara has been to South Africa before, it helped that this trip was made with runs in domestic cricket under his belt.

“When you have some runs in the last innings, it does feel good,” he said. “The kind of runs that I had in the last innings, the time I spent at the crease, it really helps me to improve my concentration, and when you have the best of concentration it’s easy to adjust to the conditions. Obviously, confidence-wise, it helps.”

When pressed on the quickest bowlers he had ever faced, Pujara came up with the names of James Pattinson and Morne Morkel, while explaining that speed was not everything.

“When you are playing at the international level, you expect fast bowling, so it is not about who is the fastest,” Pujara said.

“Conditions are favourable for the bowlers and so it is a little challenging for us, but that is the important part as a youngster, because when you want to grow as a cricketer, you want to face challenges and learn out of it. It will be a challenging tour for us, but we are well prepared for it.”

Pujara, 25, was eligible for the award because he had played fewer than five Tests in the evaluation period. “The last one-and-a-half years have been really good for me,” he said.

“Playing the Test format and scoring those runs, I think I have become a mature player. And playing against teams like Australia and England has helped me a lot because they have very good fast bowling.

“I think the kind of runs you score in one-and-a-half years when you’re in good form, you’ve got a lot of confidence.

“Even in the domestic matches, I have scored runs. I have very good confidence, which helps a cricketer prepare himself mentally rather than what he does on the field.

“When you are mentally prepared, there are some adjustments, which need to be done on the field. Then you are in the best frame of mind, you have the best chance of preparing yourself on the field.”

sports@thenational.ae

This story was contributed by Wisden India.

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