After notching up his first Test hundred in close to two years, Cheteshwar Pujara thanked India ‘A’ coach Rahul Dravid for reassuring him that there was "nothing wrong" with his technique. The Saurashtra batsman, who made a noteworthy comeback to the playing XI by scoring an unbeaten 135, had spent quality time with Dravid last month while playing against Australia ‘A’ in Chennai. Excerpts from the press conference: On his strategy as wickets kept falling at other end I kept things simple. When I went in, I just had to go bat and play my natural game. I thought that if I think about all the stuff that had been happening, that I am not batting at my regular position and this is the last opportunity that might be there and so on, I wouldn't be able to go and perform to the best of my abilities. I had been working hard. The best thing I needed to do was focus on what I have to do. The plan was very simple - try and rotate the strike and see through the new ball, and once I am set, obviously I could play my shots and build a partnership with other players. On working with Rahul Dravid The best thing came out of Rahul Dravid when I was playing with India A team. He said that there is nothing wrong with my technique. So he told me to keep calm. He watched me bat in the nets and told me that there is a big one coming very soon, maybe in Sri Lanka or even in the India-A game. So that gave me lot of confidence and belief in myself. He (Dravid) felt that overall, I was batting really well during England and Australia tours. It's just that I didn't convert the 30s or 40s into a big one. So I decided to stick to what I do and continue playing the way I have been. On what did he do differently from the rest of the batsmen I was trying to play close to the body. The main thing I noticed, a few players got out because they played away from the body. But the wicket was really challenging and you can’t blame the player. The first ball KL Rahul got was really difficult. It was difficult to predict whether it is going to come in. It is obviously a difficult wicket but you need to survive and the main thing I did was play close to the body. On the wicket It is very difficult to rate other wickets, but it was one of the toughest wickets I have played on. Especially, when the ball was new, it felt like you can't play any shots and you can't get away. You just have to survive and keep defending and when you get a loose ball, you just convert it. But I was patient enough, I kept my calm and kept rotating the strike, which allowed me to settle down and then once I was in, on any wicket I think I can play the way I always do. On his county stint Obviously, when you go and play overseas, the conditions are different and I have played for Derbyshire and Yorkshire. Playing there helped me deal with the seaming conditions and the county cricket is challenging. Even if you want to score a fifty or a 100, it’s not easy. Spending lot of time there in the nets and in the game definitely helped me. On Dhammika Prasad I think he bowled brilliantly today. He kept his line. His plan was simple — to bowl on the fourth stump and let the pitch do the work. On his partnership with Amit Mishra When I went in it reminded me of playing in South Africa where I had scored 153 on a tough wicket. I knew that if I played with soft hands, the ball would not carry to the slips. Initially it was really important. Partnership with Amit bhai was really important. He batted really well which has allowed us to put on 292 on the board at the moment. He faced the second new ball which was really important because had we lost a wicket then things would have been very different.