We wanted to capitalise on the nature of the pitch: Pujara

Pujara was the first to get to the three-figure mark and brought it up with a six off Adil Rashid. “Getting to a century with a six is always special. I am happy that I started well in first Test too. Starting well in a series means a lot,” the Rajkot-born player said. 

The right-hander said the plan with Virat Kohli was to capitalise on a good first day pitch. “We (Kohli and Pujara) wanted to build a partnership. It is the first day’s pitch and good for batting and we wanted to capitalise on that. It was a crucial one for the team,” he said. 

With both K L Rahul and Murali Vijay getting out to balls bowled outside the off-stump, Pujara said there was nothing wrong in the two batsmen’s technique and their inability to leave the ball outside the off-stump. “Both the openers have scored many runs in international cricket. I do not see anything wrong with their techniques. Sometimes we just must accept the way they are out,” Pujara added. 

India scored at almost more than five-runs an over in the second session and Pujara said the skipper and he had a talk to dominate the game. “There was a time when we felt that we needed to accelerate and dominate and I am happy that we were able to. It is all about reading the game and batting to a situation,” he added.

The one-down batsman could have been run-out twice early in his innings due to a communication gap with Kohli but averted the danger and Pujara said their running between the wickets improved after a brief chat. “I wouldn’t say there was a communication gap. We didn’t judge the singles well in first session. We had a chat during the lunch break and if you see, we didn’t miss any singles and our communication was much better in the second session,” Pujara said. 

Pujara, who was under a lot of criticism and scrutiny for his slow scoring late in the Caribbean, said there was nothing wrong in his batting and technique. “I haven’t changed much with technique. I had a chat with coach Anil Kumble after the West Indies tour and during the New Zealand tour and I realised it was all about the intent. I was scoring lot of runs in domestic and international and missed converting the 50s and 60s to 100s. After working on my intent, I am happy the way it is going for me,” Pujara added.