'Can't score double-centuries all the time' - Pujara

Between the end of the South Africa tour last year and this Adelaide Test, Cheteshwar Pujara had scored just one Test half-century in 14 innings. At a crucial time, at the start of the tour, he got off to a good start, but failed to live to his exceptional conversion rate, falling for 73. However, he is not letting it affect him too much.

"At times I feel disappointed that I couldn't capitalise and score a big one," Pujara said. "But it's a game of cricket. You can't score double-centuries all the time. Obviously I want to score as many runs as possible, but you also have to respect the opposition. When I get out I try and analyse what went wrong, and try to come back strongly."

Not only Pujara, but M Vijay and Ajinkya Rahane also failed to convert starts into hundreds, but their captain Virat Kohli didn't miss out. It was a gutsy innings. The first ball he faced hit him flush in the helmet, but Kohli waved away all the concern and help from his opposition and team-mates, and went on to score his seventh hundred. Pujara was at the non-striker's end when Kohli was hit.

"The first reaction, everyone went to Virat and asked him whether he was all right or not," Pujara said of the incident. "Even when I went in, I asked if everything was fine. First he checked the helmet to see if there was any damage. There wasn't. The helmet was fine. Even he was fine. Later on we discussed how the ball came, what could be done to such a ball and how he got hit. Overall, he batted really well, forgetting about that particular ball. It was fun to watch his innings."

Pujara said that their batting line-up is good, and they can pose Australia a threat. "What we discussed yesterday was to fight back," Pujara said. "The score that they made, we discussed that we can definitely achieve this with the kind of batting line-up we have. That was the target, to score as many runs as them. We have a very good batting line-up, and it was about proving to ourselves that we can achieve this. We're in a good position to do so.

"Most of our batsmen have scored runs. We got a good start. We always had partnerships. That is a big positive for us. Overall, all the batsmen spent time at the crease and were looking very good. If you have a good start you can take many positives out of it. It's about self-belief and the kind of self-belief we have now, after scoring these runs, we can take it into the next innings and next match."