Third session is the most difficult one with pink ball: Cheteshwar Pujara

BCCI is considering the ongoing Duleep Trophy matches as a rehearsal for hosting pink ball Test matches. India’s Test specialist, Cheteshwar Pujara who scored 166 off 280 balls for India Blue on Monday during the Duleep Trophy game between India Blue and India Green, had raised a few concerns over the pink ball.

Despite batting beautifully in his first pink ball match, he feels that “picking the googly” and “spotting the seam” under lights against the pink ball is a big concern. To add to the concerns, he pointed out that the 3rd session is the most difficult time to bat as the opposition will take the new ball and it comes a bit quicker than normal.

“This was my first game with the pink ball, enjoyed batting on this wicket, not much help for the fast bowlers. The most difficult session was the third one, under lights, when they took the second new ball, it moved about, it came on faster. So I think the third session is the most difficult one,” Pujara told official broadcasters Star Sports after his innings.

A ‘googly’ is one of the natural variation a spinner possess and Pujara said it’s hard to pick the direction in which the seam is pointing. “Even when I was facing spinners, it was very difficult to pick the googly, under lights. A little difficult to pick the seam on the pink ball,” he added.

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Pujara was disappointed to get out for 166. “Disappointed to get out on 166. People expect big from me. Getting a hundred was good, though,” said Pujara, “Always good to play domestic games before a big series.”

On the upcoming New Zealand series:

Speaking about the upcoming series against New Zealand, the Saurashtra batsman feels that Kiwis has a strong bowling and batting line-up and thus need to play really carefully. “Looking forward to it considering we have 13-14 matches (in the forthcoming season). New Zealand has a good batting line-up, good spinners, and their fast bowlers are bowling reverse swing as well. As a batsman, we need to be careful. India has done really well so far, in India and outside India as well.”

Speaking about his batting position, he said that he is ready to bat at any position but if given a choice he would definitely want to bat at no.3, where he had scored most of his runs. “Sometimes you have to be prepared to bat at any number. If given a choice, and because I have scored so many runs at No 3, I know how to bat there, I know how to build an innings.”

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“Given a choice, I would like to bat at No 3. But I’m happy to bat wherever. I share my experience with the young cricketers, I know when I was making my India debut, the seniors helped me out,” Pujara stated.