It took Cheteshwar Pujara 148 balls to get his first boundary but not for once did the senior India batsman feel that he batted too slowly during the opening day’s play in the first Pink ball Test on Thursday.
Pujara, who scored a sedate 43 off 160 balls, feels that a first innings total of 350 would be very handy for the visitors.
Asked if he felt that he could have paced his innings better, the Saurashtra man had an emphatic no for an answer.
“Not at all. We were in a very good position in the first two sessions,” said Pujara, defending the 41 scored by the team in the first session and 66 runs that were scored in the second. “We needed to make sure that we don’t lose wickets when the ball is swinging. It was a great day of Test cricket and there are no regrets at all about the strategy. We couldn’t have lost more wickets playing shots and getting bowled in a day,” said Pujara.