If I can carry on like this, franchises might take notice: Cheteshwar Pujara on IPL snub

It took a long time, almost 12 years, but it has finally come. Cheteshwar Pujara, after playing in his first T20 match in 2007, has finally scored century in cricket’s shortest format to prove he’s not just a Test specialist.

On Thursday, during Saurashtra’s opening round clash against Railways, Pujara blasted an unbeaten 100 off 61 deliveries while opening the innings. (ALSO READ: Good form in Test cricket can help you bat well in shorter formats – Pujara)

However, during the recent IPL auctions, Pujara has repeatedly being snubbed by the franchisees despite throwing his name among the hopefuls.

Despite that, the 31-year-old has no doubts over his white-ball abilities and is confident that should he continue to bat the way he has been, someone is bound to take notice.

“I think twice for sure (gone unsold). I put my name in because somewhere down the line I am very confident about playing white ball, whether it is ODI or T20. If I am not picked, I am not picked. But with such results, if I can carry on like this, people will start noticing. Even franchises might take notice. If I am still not picked I will carry on doing things I am doing. I don’t want to change anyone’s perceptions,” Pujara told ESPNcricinfo.

During his blistering innings, Pujara struck 14 fours and even cleared the boundary once. His latest exploit comes right after a red-hot form in red-ball cricket that saw him bagging the player-of-the-series award in the four-Test series in Australia before helping Saurashtra enter the Ranji Trophy final.

However, Pujara isn’t here to prove a point to anyone. “I never play to prove a point to someone else. This innings gives me a lot of confidence. Things will get better from here. Once you can trust your game, once you work on something and it pays off, then you know this is a method you can follow,” he said.