Australia Test captain Pat Cummins described bowling to Cheteshwar Pujara as “death by a thousand paper cuts” and described the former Indian cricketer as the hardest Indian hitter he has ever faced.
During a recent encounter, Cummins was asked to name the toughest opponents he had faced from different nations during his trophy-laden career. Pujara was chosen by the famous pacer, who claimed that the former Indian batter’s tenacity and resolve made him a difficult opponent to defeat.
Pat Cummins On Cheteshwar Pujara
With massive contributions to India’s Border-Gavaskar Trophy victories in 2018-19 and 2020-21, Pujara was undoubtedly one of the hardest batters for Australians to bowl to.
“India, I am going to say, Pujara. He is really hard to get out. It is just it is like death by a thousand paper cuts. Happy to face 100 dot balls if he wanted to. He isn’t going to give you a chance,” Cummins said while speaking to Prime Video Sport.
Cummins selected former spinner Saeed Ajmal for Pakistan, calling him a unique bowler.
“Pakistan, Saeed Ajmal. It was like the last ball of the over; I walked in, Saeed Ajmal just goes, and I went, what? Clean bowled. I have never seen anything like that,” Cummins said.
England’s Alastair Cook, South Africa’s AB de Villiers, New Zealand’s Brendon McCullum, Sri Lanka’s Tillakaratne Dilshan, and Windies’ Chris Gayle were also listed by Cummins as some of his most challenging opponents.
However, only individuals who have since retired from international cricket were included in Cummins’ list. After amassing 7,195 runs at an impressive average of 43.6 in 103 Test matches for the Indian cricket team, including 19 hundreds and 35 fifties, Pujara announced his retirement from international cricket in 2025. Pujara has only scored 51 runs while playing for India in five ODIs.