'First-class cricket is really important': After reviving his Test career, Cheteshwar Pujara underlines the importance of domestic cricket

India managed to secure a hard-fought series win against Bangladesh. Ravichandran Ashwin and Shreyas Iyer held their nerves on a spin-friendly track to prevent Bangladesh from pulling off a Christmas miracle and register their first win against India. The unbeaten 71-run eighth-wicket partnership ensured India win the second Test in the first session of Day 4 by three wickets and win the series 2-0 to retain their second spot on World Test Championship (WTC) 2022-23 table.

Cheteshwar Pujara, who became the eighth Indian batter to score 7,000 Test runs, was awarded the Man of the Series award primarily because of his stellar display with the bat in the opening Test match. Upon receiving the award, India's No.3 batter underlined the importance of playing First-Class cricket.

"It's been a great competitive series," Pujara told the host broadcasters.

"I have been working hard on my game. Played lot of First-class cricket and then worked a lot on my game, that's what helped me score these runs. Sometimes, there is enough gap between Test matches, it helps you prepare. I think playing First-class cricket is really important for improving.

"You need to be mentally prepared and I believe that if you are strong mentally, and prepare well, you'll be good," he added.

The classical right-handed bater finally got the biggest load off his chest after cracking an incredible century, ending the 1,443 Test ton drought in the first Test against Bangladesh on Friday (December 16). With this Pujara (102 runs off 130 balls) brought up his 19th century in the longest format of the game at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram. The century was also the fastest of his career as he took the Bangladesh bowling attack to cleaners to reach the milestone in just 130 balls.

In the second Test, Pujara was dismissed by left-arm spinner Taijul Islam for 24 runs off 55 balls in the first innings while he could only manage to score six runs in 12 balls in the second innings.