Pujara finds his touch with a battling century

Think for a moment how Cheteshwar Pujara would have felt when he came in to bat. He was out of touch — there wasn’t a three-digit score in 22 innings — and then, when presented with a chance to rediscover himself, he was out of place, coming in as an opener instead of his customary No. 3 position.

There were unkind lines circulating too — that he might not be positive enough. If form had earlier edged him out of the team, perception seemed to have done him in.

In over six hours on Saturday, the second day of the third Test here, he rose like a phoenix, first transcending and then answering questions with a battling century (135 batting, 277b, 13x4), his seventh in Tests.

At stumps, when rain stopped play, India was 292 for eight, Ishant Sharma, batting on two, giving Pujara company. When R. Ashwin fell with the score reading 180 for seven, India was staring at a sub-200 total.

Instead of back peddling into caution, Amit Mishra, whose erstwhile job would have been stonewalling, indulged in some shot-making, scoring a valuable 59 (87b, 7x4).

While his two pulled boundaries and an inside-out drive to bring up his half-century established his batting credentials, the 104-run partnership he built with Pujara for the eighth wicket lent India’s total more than a shade of respectability.

On this day, Pujara displayed all the basic tenets that Test match batting once demanded on a tough pitch. His first job was to defend. The balls that were outside the line were safely seen into the ’keeper’s gloves. And in times of indecision, he played with “soft hands” — unlike the ODI and T20 batsmen who tend to play with hard hands and help the edges carry according to Sanjay Bangar.

Then came the consolidation. At one stage he was 32 from 116 balls. With three consecutive boundaries of Tharindu Kaushal he shifted gears. The 68 runs that took him to his hundred came off 98 deliveries.

Pujara might not possess the aesthetic appeal that a Rohit Sharma — his partner in a 55-run stand for the fourth wicket — has. While driving, the bat in his hands seems more like a plough, threatening to turn over the earth near the stumps, before meeting the ball. The pleasantness of it though lies at the end, when the ball thuds into the boundary wall.

Rangana Herath experienced that first hand. Pujara advanced down the ground and either drove him through mid-off and covers or worked him on the on-side. Rohit lofted him over mid-on — once rustily just beyond the fielders grasp for a boundary and then with polished finesse for a six.

Earlier, Dhammika Prasad was splendid with the ball, seaming it to unplayable levels. Virat Kohli was lucky to survive two close leg-before shouts in the very first over of the day.

That the first scoring shot was off the 18th delivery after the start, a four past point from Kohli’s bat, said a lot. Prasad bowled a first spell of 5-1-10-0.

Once he had softened up Kohli, it took only a gentle teaser outside the off stump, from skipper Angelo Mathews to have the measure of the Indian captain.

Prasad, perhaps Sri Lanka’s man with a golden arm, came back for a second spell. It stretched on either side of the lunch break and read 8-3-22-2.

He first made Rohit fish outside, edge to the second slip and usher in the lunch. Then the dessert was had by making Stuart Binny look like a sitting duck, trapping him in front off the first ball after the break.

Thirteen overs in just over a session under the unrelenting sun might have been a bit too much, as his follow through — more of a wobble — at the tail end of the spell indicated. Yet, he returned closer to tea and made Ashwin prod at an away going delivery. In spite of the wicket, at the end of a three-over burst though, he seemed spent.

“This was the hottest day [compared to all days],” Prasad said later. “I’m used to playing on flat tracks here. But I’m the [SSC] captain this year. So we will play on these kinds of tracks,” he added grinning.