Cheteshwar Pujara has long been touted by the cricket pundits as the perfect replacement to Rahul Dravid, but the man himself after scoring his maiden century on the opening day of the first test between India and New Zealand said that it is impossible to replace Dravid.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t replace someone like Rahul who scored more than 10,000 runs. It is impossible to think of that,\u201d Pujara was quoted by The Hindu<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The 24 year old Indian batsman playing in his fourth test and the first since January 2011 said that he was delighted with the century and was waiting for the big moment to come.<\/p>\n \u201cI dreamt to start off this way. I was really looking for the big century having missed out on my debut against Australia,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Meanwhile a report in the Deccan Herald<\/strong> says that Pujara was not intimidated by the fact that he was batting at the number three position.<\/p>\n \u201cI knew that I was going to bat at the No 3 position. I have the experience of playing at this position as I have done it several times in domestic cricket. It is not a new thing for me. I was not really worried about it nor was I under any pressure when I went out,\u201d the report quoted him as saying.<\/p>\n Talking about the hard times which saw him sit out of the team due to injury, he said, \u201cObviously I am happy that all my hard work is paying off. <\/p>\n One tends to become mentally tough after going through a tough phase in life. I too went through a difficult period especially with the injury. It was bad for me and my family too. But deep in my heart I knew that I would be able to make a comeback to the Indian team and play the game which I love so much.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI wish to dedicate this century to my father. He has been a keen supporter of me and though he has had lot of difficulties he has helped me pursue my dream. Even after he had a bypass surgery, he was taking care of me. I wish to thank my family for it,\u201d Pujara added dedicating the century to father and coach Arvind.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Cheteshwar Pujara has long been touted by the cricket pundits as the perfect replacement to Rahul Dravid, but the man himself after scoring his maiden century on the opening day of the first test between India and New Zealand said that it is impossible to replace Dravid. \u201cI can\u2019t replace someone like Rahul who scored […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-from-the-newspapers"],"yoast_head":"\n