Pujara stood tall in a defiant 47 off 102 balls even as Sri Lanka pacers made full use of the overcast conditions to run through the Indian batting line-up.
"He's obviously a world class player. That innings shows his experience of playing county cricket (for Nottinghamshire). This kind of wickets and conditions you genuinely find in England. He certainly played the conditions very well," Pothas said at the press conference after the second day's play.
Rain continued to affect the opening Test as only 32.5 overs could be bowled in the first two days with Sri Lanka stealing the show.
But the head coach said they still have a long way to go as they are chasing a first ever Test win on the Indian soil.
Also Read
"The game is not very old and there's a long way to go at the moment. We are pretty happy with where we are. We are certainly not getting too comfortable. It's a high quality Indian team.
The Lankans have an inexperienced batting lineup who will be tested by the Indian bowlers aided by the conditions.
"So far we are pretty pleased at how we have gone about things. It's very very challenging batting conditions but you have to get out there and do your job," said Pothas.
Suranga Lakmal was the pick of their bowler with figures of 11-9-5-3 and the coach said: "He's a very very intelligent bowler. He does a lot of research and knows how to control his workload. He is very astute at knowing when he is prepared, that's the hallmark of an International bowler.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content