India's top-order should have batted better, will learn from mistakes: Pujara

India vs Australia 1st Test: Cheteshwar Pujara praised Australia's bowlers but said India should have batted a lot better on the opening day of the Adelaide Test

Listen to Story

Advertisement
India's top-order should have batted better, will learn from mistakes: Pujara
Ajinkya Rahane flashed outside his off-stump and was caught by Australia's Peter Handscomb (AP Photo)

In Short

  • India were reduced to 41 for 4 after Rahul, Vijay, Kohli and Rahane fell to poor shot selection
  • Cheteshwar Pujara led India's fightback with his 16th Test hundred
  • Pujara said India's top-order batsmen will learn from their mistakes and bat better in the second innings

Cheteshwar Pujara hoped India's top-order batsmen would learn from their mistakes on the opening day of the Adelaide Test and put up a far more improved show in the second innings of the first Test against Australia.

After opting to bat, India were reduced to 41 for 4 as KL Rahul, Murali Vijay, Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane perished to lose shots against Australia's pacers. And just when Rohit Sharma had settled down, he attempted a hoick against Nathan Lyon and holed out.

advertisement

Pujara had to dig deep and produce one of his finest knocks to give India some kind of respectability - they finished at 250 for 9 at stumps. However, Pujara conceded India's top-order batsmen should have batted much better.

"To be honest, we should have batted better but they also bowled well in the first two sessions and I knew I had to stay patient and wait for the lose balls. But they bowled in the right areas," Pujara told the media after the end of the first day. "I also felt our top order should have batted better but we will learn from the mistakes and put up a better show in the second innings."

Pujara showed it was not impossible to bat. You just had to remain patient and wait for the scoring opportunities. And his resilience paid rich dividends - Pujara brought up his maiden hundred in Australia and went past 5000 runs.

Perhaps Pujara's colleagues could take a leaf out of his book. They could learn how to prepare for a big Test series from close quarters. In 2014, Pujara had struggled in England and Australia - eventually, he was dropped. Four years later, Pujara has turned a new corner.

"The top order made mistakes but hopefully, we will learn from those mistakes and we will bat better in the second innings. I had prepared well.. Overally my experience in Test cricket and first-class cricket helped me," he said.

Maybe Pujara was upset with the lack of support from any one of his partners in the top-order. Who knows how many India could have got had at least one of the others batted longer and showed some more application.

Sunil Gavaskar was furious with the way the Indian batsmen approached the innings. "That [poor outside the off-stump] is an understatement. They [India batsmen] were just reaching out for deliveries which they could have very well left alone. The only exception may be KL Rahul but all the others played shots that they could have avoided," Gavaskar told the broadcasters as India went to lunch at 56 for 4. "It was the first session of a five-day Test match, a five-day Test match and you had all the time in the world to build a good total.

advertisement

"You know that the Kookaburra ball swings around only for maybe a dozen overs or so. You can then cash in, capitalise and score plenty of runs. But everybody was like 'I have to get my runs in this session'.

"And if these players had been newcomers, understandable but these are all experienced players who played those shots outside the off-stump."

Thanks to Pujara, India now have a fighting chance. The onus will be on the bowlers on Friday and if they can restrict Australia, Pujara will get to see if his batting colleagues have indeed learnt from their mistakes.

Also watch -