‘Patience needs mental strength’: Pranayam powering Pujara to fight outer noise

Calmness was all around the ground floor of Arun Jaitley cricket stadium’s old pavilion when journalists, both Indian and Australian, gathered there for the pre-match presser on Thursday. Unlike the previous game, there wasn’t an urge of finding answers to some controversial questions. Instead, it turned out to be a light-hearted gig with the ‘heavy-weight Champion’ of India’s men’s Test team. Cheteshwar Pujara, who is going to play the 100th Test of his remarkable career, was about to arrive for a media interaction while the questioners were busy scrolling up their memory banks to recall his heroics since October 2010.

Pujara’s career – 99 Tests, 7021 runs and 19 hundreds – is no less than a warrior’s tale, especially the last couple of years. From being the hero of the Indian team in the 2018-19 Border-Gavaskar Trophy to getting dropped from the squad for a series at home (social media trolling and criticism from experts were complimentary); Pujara held his head steady. He would have been boiling deep down inside but nothing was on his face.

After a bumpy ride, Pujara is on the cusp of achieving an honourable milestone. On February 17, 2023, he will become the 13th Indian player with 100 Test matches to his credit and edge past former India captain Mohammad Azharuddin’s record of 99. A milestone that will put him on the list of India’s Test greats.

In the last couple of years, Pujara went through a process to rediscover his game.

How did he overcome the failure; the media wanted to know it right from the horse’s mouth.

“I had already spoken to Rahul bhai (Dravid) and Vicky paaji (Vikram Rathour) and although I was left out of the team, I had clear communication that there were certain things I had to work on and there will be opportunities to play for India,” Pujara told reporters.

“I got my opportunity again to play that one-off Test match in England and I was ready, I played first-class games for Sussex and scored enough runs, got enough confidence,” he added.

Getting dropped is a pretty big blow to an established cricketer and to deal with it, the mental strength has to be on the higher side. So, Pujara applied a very desi formula to achieve it – Yoga!

“Patience needs mental strength and lots of practice. Preparation is important, and I learnt my patience from junior and first-class cricket. I do a little bit of meditation, yoga and pranayama because it is necessary to shut out the outside noise. It is easy to say that but, to do that, you need to be mentally strong and sometimes detach yourself from what’s spoken outside.

“Shut out even if it’s positive news. I don’t read newspapers or check social media and that’s important,” Pujara said.

Meanwhile, when the crickets fans were going crazy about the white-ball games, exactly the shortest format, Pujara was making headlines with his hundreds for Sussex at the Royal London One-day Cup. So, the mindset has changed and the diffidence of playing unorthodox shots in Test seems to have gone away.

“As a cricketer, having played white-ball cricket… it has helped me while playing for Saurashtra and against Sussex, I tried playing sweep shots against fast bowlers and paddle scoop as well,” Pujara said.

“That has opened my mindset and I want to implement these in Tests, you are a little more open-minded and flexible and that has helped me even in the last series against Bangladesh, and when we needed to accelerate and I had to play a few shots, I could do that.

“I have been a little more open-minded and flexible to changes and adapt to situations and be open to changes in technique,” Pujara added.

100th Test match is not an easy milestone to achieve. It brings a lot of pride not only to the player but also to his family which stands alongside him through the thick and thin of his career. Pujara’s father is excited to watch his son play against Australia on Friday at Kotla.

“It [100th Test] means a lot to me and my family. My father has played a very important role in my cricketing career. He is someone who has coached me since my childhood. So, he’s very excited. He’s going to be here tomorrow. Even my wife, she’s been very supportive. Family is very important in a cricketer’s life. I really thank my friends, family, and the coaches I’ve worked with over period of time,” Pujara said.

But amid all the excitement and the good vibes, the thoughts of winning three Test matches and qualifying for the World Test Championship finals haven’t vanished from his mind.