We proved ourselves: Cheteshwar Pujara

After Australia declared their first innings at the overnight score of 517/7, India finished the day at 369/5 with Virat Kohli making his seventh Test hundred and Pujara himself scoring a fine 73. “We discussed on Wednesday that we needed to fight back in the match. We talked about what they have scored on this pitch and the kind of wicket this is. We discussed that given the batting line up we have we can surely achieve this. Overall we have a very good, young batting line up and it was about proving ourselves. We did that and we are in good position to achieve our targets,” said Pujara after the day’s play.

This was Pujara’s second half-century in the last 16 Test innings, with the last one coming in England where he had a miserable time on tour. “I have prepared hard for this tour. I believe in preparation and even though I just scored 73 runs, I am quite happy with how it worked out for me. Earlier, at times I have been getting good starts but have not been able to capitalise on them,” he said.