Chteshwar
Pujara
scored 53 on Wednesday when India were in dire need of a partnership in
their second innings of the second Test against South Africa at the Wanderers
in Johannesburg. Pujara, who has been struggling to find his mojo back for quite
some time now, took 86 deliveries to score 56 while sharing a very important
111-run partnership with Ajinkya Rahane, who scored 58 off 78 balls. Banking on
their partnership, India set a 240-run target for South Africa on a tricky
Wanderers wicket.

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Both Pujara
and Rahane have been under pressure since runs were not coming from their
willows for a while. Pujara, in fact, has not scored a hundred since 2019. He
last scored a hundred – 193 – against Australia in Sydney. Since then he scored
12 fifties, and he has been accused of being too slow and nonresponsive even on
sporting wickets.

During India’s tour of England in 2021, Pujara had a golden
chance of scoring a hundred when he was dismissed for 91 off 189 balls off
Ollie Robinson at the Oval. During India’s tour of Australia in 2020-21, Pujara
was even hailed for his unbreakable defence under pressure situation. But as
things stand now and run started coming from other batters, Pujara was under
the scanner of cricket pundits.

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Pujara,
Rahane rescued India in the second innings

On
Wednesday, he, uncharacteristically, came out of the shell to rescue India from
early hiccups. At one point, India were struggling for 44 for 2. It was majorly
due to his innings and Rahane’s fifty India got an upper hand in the Test. Pujara,
who had been going through a rough patch for quite some time in Test cricket,
produced an impressive outing in the closing hours of Day 2 as he scored at a
brisk pace in the second innings. After Pujara scored 35 off 42 on Day 2,
former Pakistan captain Salman Butt noticed a pattern in India no.3’s batting.

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 “I noticed this one thing (about Pujara). He
was under pressure in the England tour as well and he played a very positive
innings, similar to the one he played today. Whenever he is under pressure, he
plays positive and plays his shot. I don’t understand why he goes back into his
blocking mode then. He needs to think about his approach,” Butt said.

The former
Pakistan captain said that Pujara plays “freely” when there is significant
pressure on him to perform.

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“Whenever
he is under pressure, he starts playing freely. When there are fears that he
might be dropped from the XI, he starts playing his shots. He gets the crucial
runs with a good tempo. You saw that in England as well, when he failed in 4-5
innings, he played an 80-90 run knock (91 in second innings in Leeds Test) at a
decent strike rate,” Butt said on his official YouTube channel.

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“Even
today, when he was pushed against the wall, when there was uncertainty if he
will play the next match or not, he scored at a very good strike rate. The
moment the ball comes in his zone, he plays his shots.”

Butt’s advice for Pujara

Butt also
suggested Pujara not to go “back into his shell” and continue with the same
approach, insisting that there is no need to tweak with the strategy that is
reaping rewards.

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“So, I
don’t know why he goes into a shell once he gets the runs. When you have the
runs, keep that tempo, keep playing those shots! Maybe sometime, he will find
out very soon that he has to play like this, he doesn’t need to go back into
his shell. He’s looking good, he is presenting the full face of the bat because
he is playing according to the pitch condition. If you play defensively on this
pitch, you can get out at any time. Go for the runs,” said Butt.