Cheteshwar Pujara, who has climbed to his career-best fifth in the ICC Test rankings for batsmen after a fine series in South Africa, today said he had worked very hard on the fitness in the last six months after his knee surgery in 2011.
Pujara aggregated 280 runs in the recently-concluded two-Test series against South Africa.
"I am really satisfied with my performance over the last one to one-and-a-half years. I have worked hard on my game. I have also worked hard on my fitness over the last 4-6 months after the surgery. I am paying a lot of attention to fitness. I was a bit lazy in my gym sessions earlier," said Pujara at a media conference here organised by his employers, Indian Oil Corporation.
"Improved fitness helps one to concentrate more when batting. I want to keep improving as a cricketer," said the 25-year-old batsman, who underwent a surgery in London after tearing a knee ligament in IPL-4 at Bangalore.
The Saurashtra-born batsman, who averaged over 70 in the two-Test rubber with a ton in the opening Test at Johannesburg, was one among many sportspersons present at the conference.
Pujara, however, refused to take any question on the tour of South Africa, where India first lost 0-2 in the ODI series of which he was not a part and then 0-1 in the two-Test rubber that followed.
"I am not allowed (by Cricket Board's contract) to talk about past or future tours," he said.
He also pointed out the importance of the Times Shield inter-offices tournament that he had played for his company in his growth as a player with a penchant for scoring double and triple hundreds.
