Pujara never doubted that he would return

India

India batsman Cheteshwar Pujara said on Thursday that he had no doubts that he would make a comeback to the national team after being dropped at the start of the year.

Pujara was left out on India'a tour of Australia in Januray and was only included in the side for their last two Tests where he has shown that he is back amongst the runs.

The 27 year-old scored 145 not out against Sri Lanka in August and hit 77 in the first Test against South Africa in Mohali on a difficult pitch to bat on.

The right-handed Pujara will be a key player when the second Test against Proteas gets under way in Banglaore on Saturday.

Pujara said: "I never thought that I will not be able to return to international cricket (when dropped from XI). I had a good start and I scored a lot of runs in domestic cricket. So I always had that confidence.

"There was a time where I did not score runs as expected but that phase is gone and now I am back in form.

"If you look at all cricketers, they go through a certain phase where they don't do as well as they are expected to but once you start believing yourself and working hard on your game, scoring runs in any game domestic or club game, then you get confidence."

India latest-news

Latest