A milestone to savour for marathon man Cheteshwar Pujara

On eve of 100th Test, Cheteshwar Pujara reveals how playing white-ball domestic cricket for Sussex spurred his late-career revivalNEW DELHI: Exactly a year ago, Cheteshwar Pujara's chances of making it to his 100th Test seemed to have diminished drastically when the selectors decided to leave him out for the home series against Sri Lanka. He was at 95 Tests then. On Thursday morning, the eve of the second Test against Australia at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Pujara turned up with a beaming smile after a light optional nets session. The pride of representing India in a Test match for the 100th time was unmistakable.Pujara understands he isn't the quintessential hitman like most modern-day batters. He is, instead, the calm in the chaos. "I am the same Cheteshwar as a person. If you speak to people who know me, I am the same person and I don't think you need to change if you are a good human being," he proudly said.Being dropped last year surely shook things up for Pujara. At 34, the wiggle room was very little. He decided to skip IPL auctions, no doubt because he has gone unsold for most of the last six-seven auctions. The deal to play with Sussex in the English county championship came his way. But he needed a clear plan before that stint began.

"I had already spoken to Rahul (Dravid) bhai and Vicky (Vikram Rathour) p aaji. Although I was left out of the team, I had clear communication aboutcertain things which I had to work on," Pujara said. The specific work was mostly about opening up more scoring options in his batting. His strike rate and habit of getting stuck drew much criticism. "I know how I got success in the first 5-7 years of my career. The most important part is you need to be mentally strong, believe in