RAJKOT: After he was struck on the helmet for the second time by Chris Woakes in the first session of play on Friday morning, Cheteshwar Pujara took fresh guard.
One couldn’t tell if he was a bundle of nerves, but the demeanour suggested he was trying to shake them off.
The occasion was far too important. His father, coach, mentor and friend – Arvind – had come to the stadium for the first time to watch his son play international cricket. The young man had to rise to the occasion and yet not allow the occasion to get to him.
And then there was Woakes. The bowler was unrelenting.
The passage of play when he got tested by a very aggressive English attack was a picture of ‘Test cricket’ his father had painted for him as a coach years ago. Friday’s struggle on the field turned out to be a testament to that very intimate father-son relationship, which blossomed over years while discussing cricket and practising.
It was quite an emotional moment.
“It means a lot to score a hundred here (in Rajkot) when the ground is making its Test debut. I have played a lot of domestic cricket here and I know these conditions well. I had scored a triple hundred here in a First-Class game,” Pujara said.
