Pujara confident of getting SA out for 150 on the 'toughest pitch'

11 wickets fell on the first day, after Virat Kohli surprisingly opted bat first despite playing five fast bowlers. South Africa went to stumps at 6 for 1, losing the wicket of Aiden Markram to Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

It took him 54 balls to score his first runs of the day and Cheteshwar Pujara feels it will be equally difficult for the South African batsman on a pitch that he described as the toughest he played on after India were dismissed for 187, batting first on Day 1 of the third and final Test match at Johannesburg.

11 wickets fell on the first day, after Virat Kohli surprisingly opted to bat first despite playing five fast bowlers. They were bowled out for 187 and in reply, South Africa went to stumps at 6 for 1, losing the wicket of Aiden Markram to Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

Looking at the conditions, Pujara believed India’s 187 was good as 300 and he was confident of bowling out South Africa within 150.

"The total we have (187) I think it is as good as scoring 300 on any other wicket. As we saw, we got a wicket, and if we bowl well, I think we’ll get them out for 150. I would say it was a good day for us,” said Pujara on Wednesday.

Pujara played a valiant knock of 50 off 179 balls and spent over five hours on a wicket that was offering plenty of help to the fast bowlers and South Africa had five of them in their mix that made India’s job even more difficult.

“This is one of the toughest pitches I’ve played on. And as we saw, it was difficult to score some runs, especially in the first session. It was difficult to rotate the strike. It has a lot of bounce, it has seam movement. And there is enough pace now.”

India scored only 45 runs in the first session with Pujara battling hard against Vernon Philander and Kagiso Kabada. But Pujara refused to term it as a struggle.

“Obviously on this wicket you won’t be able to bat without getting beaten. I would not say it was a struggle. You do get beaten and you have to accept it. And at the end of the day if you can score a fifty on this pitch, it is a good knock.”

Pujara almost broke the Indian record of not scoring a run after facing the most amounts of balls. The Indian No. 3 though, took the loud cheer from the crowd in a lighter way.

“Yes you do notice it, because there was a lot of noise from the crowd (laughs). And even personally, obviously I wanted to get off the mark. I wasn’t seeing the number of balls I was facing, but yeah, sometimes when there is lot of noise you do notice it. Even if you are concentrating, sometimes you hear a voice from the crowd.”

Apart from Pujara, Indian captain Virat Kohli also scored a fifty but with a completely different approach that of aggression and positive intent.

“Each and every player is different. Virat is someone who has been batting really well in all formats of the game. He has lots of shots, and the way he batted today, I don’t think any other batsman could have batted like that. He’s in form, he scored a hundred in the last Test match too. He was timing the ball really well. I was finding it difficult initially, as I said earlier. For me intent is something where you defend well, you leave well, and you play on the merit of the ball. Ultimately what matters is you score some runs for the team and put up a decent total.”