Not many have the patience of Cheteshwar Pujara

NICK FRIEND AT HEADINGLEY: This was a reminder that even in the midst of his worst drought as a Test cricketer – and this was his highest score since January 2019 – he still has it in his locker to recreate his finest hits

Headingley (third day of five): India 78 & 215-2; England 432 - India trail England by 139 runs with eight second-innings wickets remaining

Scorecard

Last night, Dawid Malan warned that bowling India out on the third day at Headingley would take considerably more patience than was required on the first. He would know better than most, having spent the best part of a session compiling a fairly jeopardy-free half century on his Test return.

For patience, though, you need look no further than Cheteshwar Pujara, a man seemingly under mounting pressure coming into this third Test, two years and 36 innings on from his previous hundred and, quite apart from anything else, just struggling to score runs even if he has remained difficult to dislodge.

During India’s win at Lord’s, he faced 206 balls for 45; according to CricViz, it was his slowest-ever innings of more than 100 deliveries. Earlier this year, he made 15 off 80 balls against New Zealand and 17 off 66 in Ahmedabad against England. Pujara’s stickability has always been among his greatest strengths, that much has never been in question. Before striding to the crease today, he had faced 14,305 balls in Test cricket and survived all but 140 of them.

He will need to soak up plenty more to dig India out of a hole manufactured on Wednesday and Thursday, but that kind of scenario might just play right into the comfort zone of a batsman for whom a situation like this is his ideal. The task? Bat. For how long? Indefinitely. England’s thirst for wickets and their position of superiority opened up gaps for Pujara to keep the scoreboard ticking, their plans of attack on an increasingly flat pitch granted more scoring opportunities.

He went to his fifty in 91 balls with a pull off Craig Overton and offered no genuine chances in an unbeaten contribution that possessed many of the hallmarks that have characterised his best cricket over the years.

England didn’t do an awful lot wrong and could reassure themselves as they left the field that they remain firm favourites to level this series, with a new ball available in the morning, a significant lead even before India approach parity and plenty of time left in the game.

^{Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli will resume for India on Saturday}

But they were made to toil, and their two wickets in 80 overs relied on a spectacular slip catch from Jonny Bairstow and a marginal leg-before call – albeit only 15 seconds’ indecision when dithering over a review cost them the wicket of Rohit Sharma earlier than it eventually came; he would have been dismissed had Joe Root’s T signal come half a second faster.

Ollie Robinson and Craig Overton beat the outside edge on multiple occasions, while Pujara’s initial resistance came alongside Sharma, who once again looked in rare touch only for a tight lbw decision to go against him. He had battled to see off England’s seamers, with James Anderson still searching for his first wicket in the second innings of a Test match since February in Chennai.

He was seen off assertively by Virat Kohli – he is ominously unbeaten on his highest score of the series – with the first in a two-over spell costing double what the 39-year-old had conceded on the first day. Sam Curran, meanwhile, bowled nine overs for 40, with Rohit – who made 59 – greeting his arrival with a pair of exquisite punches through mid-off and extra cover.

For all the freneticism of the first day and Root’s glory on the second, this was a battle of hardnosed attrition in the image of its quiet, dogged star. In a sense, it was fitting that the teams walked off the field at 6.15pm with Pujara still nine runs short of a century for which he will return tomorrow. He played beautifully, but it is not his style to race against the clock to bring up a landmark that had taken so much grit and time to compile.

As Ben Jones wrote for CricViz of Pujara ahead of this Test, we are in the final stages of a terrific personal vigil: “Be it the last series, the last year, or the last handful of years, we are nestled somewhere in the autumn and winter of a prestigious career.”

^{James Anderson was made to toil in the second innings}

You hope that days like this prolong the denouement for a little longer. There is a real purity to the way in which he goes about his work, without ego or frills, relying instead on the simplest of ingredients.

When Alastair Cook was winding down, he explained that his retirement didn’t mean he could no longer go to the well, but rather he couldn’t go quite as often as before. Only Pujara, 33, will know quite where he sits on that scale, but this was a reminder that even in the midst of his worst drought as a Test cricketer – and this was his highest score since January 2019 – he still has it in his locker to recreate his finest hits.

Rohit Sharma added afterwards: “It’s not the easiest situation, to go into bat when you are 300-odd behind, and to bat the way he batted shows the character of an individual and shows the mindset of an individual – somebody who has gone everywhere and scored runs. We’ve got a crucial couple of days coming. Hopefully, he can still put his head down and keep batting like he does.”

England will know the importance of his wicket in the morning. India, too, who will feel a couple of similarly excellent sessions away from a position of improbable optimism.

For both teams, patience will be key. And few do that better than India’s No.3.