Out of the many great quotes that Napolean Hill gave to this world, one that appeals the most in the current day and age is, “Patience, persistence, and perspiration make an unbeatable combination of success.”
Although when he wrote this, he wouldn’t have thought of a cricketer who more than a century later will do justice to his words. Cheteshwar Pujara.
“You can punch me as long as you can. Then I’ll punch back,” said Pujara in a recent interview when he was asked about his reaction to being hit by the Australian pacers bouncers during the recently concluded and historic India tour of Australia.
As India mount up in Chennai to face England in the first of the four test series, it is imperative that we take a look at one of the biggest heroes in the Indian test team.
A 33-year old who has brought back the old school of thought in the days of T20 cricket and made slow, the new romance.
More runs more balls
The universally believed factoid about Cheteshwar Pujara is the more deliveries he faces in the middle, the more fruitful it will be for India.
Out of the 14 Test series in which Pujara has an average of 50 or above, more than half the times his strike rate has been 50 or less. Meaning that he has played twice the number of balls than the runs he scored.
Source: Twitter (ICC)
For someone who believes in the old school music of Test cricket, the Pujara way is one where the strike rate hardly matters. So it is only good that it stays lower than 50.
But one important aspect of his game, which more recently came into light and is missing in this metric is that sometimes runs might not matter at all. In the recent India tour of Australia, Pujara only scored 271 runs in eight innings at an average of 33.87. But does that mean he wasn’t vital in India’s success? A question of the rhetorical variety.
Pujara at home
The big factor is that India will be playing at home. Cheteshwar Pujara’s record at home shouldn’t just be looked at through the lens of his runs, but by the ways in which he has scored them.
Pujara batting at home has faced almost 107 balls/innings compared to 90.7 balls/innings away from home. This is why, even though he has batted more innings away from home, he has scored more than half (56.79%) of his runs playing in India.
Source: Twitter (ICC)
The Rajkot-born batsman has enjoyed batting against England at home. He was part of the 2012 Test squad that faced England at home, which was the last time India lost a home series. Just playing his fourth Test series, Pujara finished as India’s best batsman and the overall second-highest run-scorer in the series (438 runs in seven innings) facing almost 1000 deliveries.
In 2016 when England came to India, he finished as the third-highest run-scorer, only behind Virat Kohli and Joe Root. A big reason for a better time out in 2012 was the number of balls he faced per innings. Pujara batted for 133.8 balls/innings compared to 94.6 in 2016.
Given his method, given his form, and given his class, it has been some time now since India saw a Cheteshwar Pujara century. 22 innings and more than two years now. The 33-year old is yet to score a century in the World Test Championship. Which if it doesn’t happen, will be a pity for the Championship itself.
So as India take guard against their oldest rivals in the game of cricket, they will most definitely require their old school guard to be at his very best. Patience ke Pujari (saint of patience), Cheteshwar Pujara.
Illustration by @srizz_7