India v Australia: Cheteshwar Pujara was the wall that kept Australia out on Day 3 in Ranchi

The first day in Ranchi dispelled fears of the pitch playing havoc. The second day then resembled scripts seen previously this season – in Mumbai and Chennai against England, where things happened quickly once both the first innings ended late.

This is where day three came up as a fork on the road, drawing parallel with Bengaluru. A game of cat and mouse, where both teams exert pressure and control on proceedings in equal measure, trying to evade being cornered. This day, as such, was about holding on.

In comparison to the second day in Bengaluru, roles were reversed. There, India were defending a paltry first innings’ total and squeezed the scoring rate. The second day’s play resulted in 197/6. Here, Australia had a challenging first innings’ total, but on an easier pitch and quick outfield, the onus was on them to restrict the boundary balls and etch out wickets instead.

240/5 was the day’s outcome. But for one man, Cheteshwar Pujara, Australia almost succeeded in gaining control of this third Test.

A battle of attrition

Choking the runs was priority number one, and they began with restrictive lines. Josh Hazlewood is particularly helpful in this regard, and Steve O’Keefe bowling around-the-wicket made sure the batsmen would kick most of the deliveries away. It did the trick – only 24 runs came in the first hour of play. Importantly enough, Pujara and Murali Vijay were content with dropping anchor.

“The idea was to negotiate the initial phase, and put pressure back on them,” said Vijay, as the duo added 102 runs for the second wicket. Looking back at some of his shots, it worked beautifully. As an opener, Vijay has the ability to dig deep whilst possessing enough release shots in his arsenal to break the chains when things get too tight.

Two of Vijay’s shots stand out here in – one, within the first hour of play, when he deposited O’Keefe for six, easing off the shackles. And the second, when he tried it again, and failed, in the last over before lunch. Dancing down the track was shocking shot selection, given the situation as Vijay himself admitted later. It was part of a trend though, as the opener has fallen 12 times this home season towards the start/end of a session.

In a peculiar manner, this poor judgment is the underlying moment of day three. On a pitch like this, when the opposition is waging a war of attrition, getting set and carrying on is of utmost importance. Tight bowling means the new batsmen cannot quickly get off to 20s and 30s, and they can end up playing uncharacteristic shots, thus letting up control of the game. The dismissals of Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane are testament to this. This is where Pujara’s innings stands out as a learning lesson for anyone watching and willing to take up Test cricket as a profession.

One-man show

Vijay and Pujara are similar in a lot of ways. Both can drop anchor, and bed down for a long innings. They have a variety of shots, and often bring it out when set. The stark difference is in the release shot. If Vijay is akin to dancing down the track, Pujara just doesn’t leave the crease in that manner, almost as if it is a sacrosanct space to be revered for as long as he is out there in the middle.

It is not to say he doesn’t step out, no. Pujara utilizes deft footwork against the spinners, whether coming forth (a boundary through midwicket against Nathan Lyon in the first session was a shining example) or utilizing the depth of his crease. Yet, he identifies the need to not let go, to just keep on batting, irrespective of what the opposition is trying to do. He is willing to wait out the storm, and make hay when the proverbial sun shines.

Refer the second session at this juncture. While Kohli was at the crease, even for a short while, all of the opposition’s energy was concentrated on getting him. While the skipper faced 23 balls during his mini-stay, Pujara scored 26 runs off 37 balls at the other end moving from 40 to 66. It was the same with AjinkyaRahane, as Australia feared this partnership given their impact in Bengaluru. They put on 51 runs for the fourth wicket, off just 64 balls, and Pujara scored 29 of them.

Cummins delivers some sweet chin music

Despite Kohli’s dismissal, it was the one session where India mounted pressure on Australia. Herein, the efforts of Pat Cummins must be lauded, for he single-handedly kept the visitors in fray with those dual dismissals. Sure, it can be argued that Kohli simply did not move his feet against the second new ball, and Rahane played a manufactured stroke, an unnecessary one much like Vijay.

None of the other three pacers have been able to get as much lift from this wicket. Umesh Yadav bowled two rising deliveries, neither in the bouncer classification really. Ishant Sharma had nothing to show in this category. Hazlewood got some of them to lift in the final session, but it really was Cummins who tested the batsmen time and again with well-aimed bouncers. Remember KL Rahul’s dismissal from the second day?

Using his pace, and high release action, Cummins tested the Indian middle order against short stuff on a placid wicket and came out trumps. While Ravichandran Ashwin got out in the same manner as Rahul, he had a particular ploy against Rahane, and placed two fielders in the deep just in case the batsman was willing to pull. Instead, Rahane chose to upper cut it over the slip cordon, a shot where the risk percentage is even higher, and paid the ultimate price.

Returning to Pujara again then, just consider how he faced Cummins. The onus was on defending mostly, yet looking for runs when the opportunity presented. Mostly, he played Cummins behind square on either side, and most importantly there was no forced effort to score.

The same can be said of Pujara against every bowler, indeed. In the last session, for 90 minutes after the break, Australia gave away only 30 runs. Pujara scored only eight of them, but chewed up 60 deliveries, never putting a foot wrong. A quick, little partnership with Wriddhiman Saha, as the pressure eased off, meant India finished the day strongly.

This patience, the ability to just shoulder arms and stonewall the bowling, to kick away when the left-arm spinner is bowling a negative line outside the leg-stump, to not do something different when the runs have been squeezed down, to let the opposition enjoy its moment of ascendancy, to just shrug it off and keep batting, to ride them out and then score runs, this aptitude to grind away without so much as a look at the clock or indeed the scoreboard, all of it is what makes Pujara unique in this Indian batting line-up.