BOY TURNS MAN

Published>Thu, Oct 14 10 06:52 AM

Early in his innings on Tuesday, Cheteshwar Pujara faced a ball from Ben Hilfenhaus that was similar to the one that had dismissed him in the first innings. The ball nipped in and kept threateningly low. But this time around, Pujara was ready. He wasn't out, lbw. He ensured that his feet stayed out of the way, and in fact timed the ball so well that it sped to the cover boundary. ?

Apart from his short nervous vigil at the crease in his maiden innings, and a few impressive displays in the field, which included a run-out, the first four days of his Test career had largely been uneventful for Pujara personally.

But his captain had told him on the morning of the fifth day that he would be promoted to No. 3 when India commenced their run-chase. Though the shuffling in the order presented Pujara with a great opportunity to create a serious impact in his debut Test, it was certainly accompanied with risks. A failure could easily have made it a forgettable maiden outing for him in national colours.

But there hardly seemed to be a negative strain in his system from the time he walked out to bat following Virender Sehwag's dismissal early in India's second innings. By the end of the day, the 22-year-old debutant had top-scored and starred in one of India's most comprehensive Test victories against Australia.

And after the Indian fast bowlers had polished off the remainder of Australia's tail within the first hour of play on Wednesday, India cruised to a seven-wicket win?and a 2-0 series victory at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore, thanks mainly to Pujara's 89-ball 72 and his half-century partnerships with Murali Vijay and Sachin Tendulkar.

Chasing 207 on an up-and-down fifth day wicket, Sehwag was expected to be India's danger-man. And when the dashing opener edged a bouncing Hilfenhaus delivery to the wicket-keeper, it was the sight of the hometown boy Rahul Dravid that the near-capacity crowd was expecting to see walk out of the dressing-room.

Explosive start

But though there were a few eyebrows raised, when Pujara instead joined Vijay at the crease, the right-hander soon provided relief to the anxious faces, by starting off with a powerful cover-drive off Johnson. Pujara then welcomed off-spinner Nathan Hauritz by stepping down the wicket and hitting him for two boundaries in his first over.

While he has amassed runs in bucketfuls over the years in domestic cricket in front of empty stands at various venues around the country, here, every single run of Pujara's bat was received with raucous applause and wild cheering. And he seemed to be relishing the atmosphere, scoring at almost run-a-ball as he reached his thirties.

Soon, Pujara seemed to be well at home, and began combating the Australian bowlers with the same comfort with which he has those at the Ranji Trophy level. ?

At the other end, Vijay continued from where he had left off in the first innings, though he did experience a little discomfort against the uneven bounce. As Vijay departed, in came Tendulkar and in the company of Pujara completely shut the door on the demoralized Australians.

Just when Pujara looked well set to become India's latest debutant centurion, the end of his innings came in rather ungainly fashion, being bowled to a ball from Hauritz which didn't have turn.

Sachin Tendulkar then took over, hit Hauritz for two big sixes, and with Rahul Dravid bringing calm to the proceedings at the other end, took India home less than half-an-hour after the tea-break.

It is unlikely that even this performance will assure him of a place in the side for the Test series against New Zealand later this year, with VVS Laxman expected to regain fitness. But on Wednesday, Pujara ensured that he left a special mark on his long-awaited Test debut.

Source: Web Search