Hyderabad: Cheteshwar Pujara is a gentleman. He respects the opposition and likes to make modest statements even as he is quite punishing with the bat.
Speaking to reporters after arriving for the one-off Test match against Bangladesh starting on Thursday, the consistent scorer kept his feet on the ground. “We can’t take them lightly. They have been playing well in the sub-continent,” he said about the relatively weak rivals.
He connected their previous exploits to the England team, whom India had beaten in the Tests, One-Dayers and T20s recently. “That is one team that have done well against England,” he said referring to Bangladesh’s Test win against England last year.
However, “we have played very good cricket in 2016 and would probably stick to the same thing. We are the number one team at the moment. We would like to maintain that. If we play good cricket, we can definitely beat them,” Pujara said.
“We have been playing well — the fast bowlers have bowled well, lower order continues to hit and batsmen have been scoring consistently. One thing I believe is that if we play as a team and to our potential, we will have the upper hand in this game,” he added.
Pujara felt conditions did not matter. “They are almost similar in the sub-continent. I think it will be a fair contest because when we tour Bangladesh, we have a similar experience. I don’t think conditions will matter a lot for them. Whoever plays good cricket will have an opportunity to win this game,” he said.
The batsman also had no complains about the hectic schedule.
