Cheteshwara Pujara bid adieu to Indian cricket after a glorious career on Sunday (August 24), after announcing his retirement from all forms of the game through a social media post.
The right-handed batter ended a career that lasted almost 14 years in international cricket and almost two decades in domestic cricket.
After making his debut in 2010, Pujara became a regular in the national team in 2012 as he became Rahul Dravid’s long-term replacement at number three. The star batter occupied the position for a long time and was a key part of India’s most successful red-ball team in history.
Cheteshwar Pujara’s Career In Numbers
103 – Cheteshwar Pujara played 103 Test matches, which is the joint 13th most by an Indian. His run tally of 7195 runs is the eighth best by an Indian player in history.
19 – Pujara finished his Test career with 19 Test tons, which is the seventh-best by an Indian player in history behind Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sunil Gavaskar, Virat Kohli, Virender Sehwag, and Mohammad Azharuddin.
5 – Pujara faced the fifth most balls by an Indian batter in Test cricket history (16217) behind Dravid, Sachin, Laxman, and Kohli (the exact count of Gavaskar’s career is not available).
72 – Pujara’s tally of 72 runs on Test debut against Australia in 2010 at Bengaluru is the highest by an Indian player in his maiden Test match in the fourth innings. Overall, it is the second-highest highest run-tally by a player from India on debut in Test cricket during the final inning behind Abbas Ali Baig’s 117 vs England in 1959 at Manchester.
11 – Pujara is India’s most successful player in SENA (South Africa, England, New Zealand, and Australia), having featured in 11 wins. Each of Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant, Jasprit Bumrah, KL Rahul, and Mohammed Siraj has been part of 10 wins in these countries. The veteran batter scored 7 50+ scores in these wins, which is also the most by an Indian ahead of Kohli (6). He scored two centuries, which is also the joint-most. His run tally of 773 is also the second-highest, only behind Kohli (811).
1 – Pujara is the only Indian cricketer in history to face more than 500 balls in an innings. He played the longest inning in Test cricket by an Indian player against Australia in Ranchi during the 2017 Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) when he played 525 balls while scoring 202 runs.
521 – Pujara was the star of India’s first-ever Test series in Australia in 2018-19 under Kohli’s captaincy when he won the Player of the Series (POTS) award for a stunning tally of 521 runs in four matches, which included three centuries, including a highest score of 193 in Sydney as well as tons in the victories at Adelaide and MCG. He was also among the most important parts of the second triumph in 2020-21 under Rahane with 271 runs, which included iconic knocks in the fourth innings of the Sydney and Gabba Tests.
1258 – In the 2018-19 BGT, Pujara also set the record for the most balls faced by a visiting batter in Australia in a Test series of four or fewer matches. He faced 1258 balls in seven innings and broke a record previously held by another Indian in the form of Dravid (1203 in 2003-04).
66 – Pujara has hit 66 first-class tons, which is the fourth most by an Indian behind Tendulkar, Gavaskar, and Dravid
92.14: Pujara’s ratio of 92.14 balls per innings is even higher than Sachin Tendulkar’s (89.47) as per recorded data.