New Delhi: Cheteshwar Pujara announced his retirement from all forms of cricket on Sunday, August 24, drawing curtains on an illustrious Test career. Pujara, one of India’s finest Test batters of all time, played a pivotal role in the team’s dominance at home in the whites. He was a reliable no.3 for India in Tests and played numerous match-winning knocks for the team under pressure.
As he announced his retirement on Sunday, an old clip of Rohit Sharma narrating an interesting anecdote about Pujara went viral on social media. In the video, India’s ODI skipper Rohit, who shared the dressing room with Pujara for a number of years for the Indian team, can be seen talking about their U-14 days. Rohit revealed how Pujara’s tenacity and the ability to bat for long periods left a lasting impression on him during his early days.
Rohit recalled how Pujara used to bat for hours even at the age-group level and used to make the bowlers and fielders toil hard for his prized wicket.
“When I was 14 years old, I remember coming home in the evening after playing cricket, and my face used to look totally different. I’ll tell you the reason: he used to bat the whole day, and we would also be fielding in the sun for two or three days straight,” Rohit said at the launch of Pujara’s wife Puja’s book – ‘The Diary of a Cricketer’s Wife: A Very Unusual Memoir Book’.
Rohit also shared an interesting anecdote about Pujara from their U-14 days. The Indian ODI captain revealed Pujara would bat for days during matches, and Rohit, who used to be in the opposition team, would return home tired every time. Rohit revealed that until he saw Pujara for the first time, he and his team had only heard about his ability to punish bowlers and bat for days.
“I still remember, my mom asked me two or three times, ‘When you leave home to play, you look different, but when you return after a week or ten days, you look completely changed.’ I told her, ‘Mummy kya karu? Pujara karke ek batsman hai, woh teen din tak batting karta hai. Aur hum teeno din fielding kar rahe the!’ (Mom, what can I do? There’s this batsman named Cheteshwar Pujara. He kept batting for three days, and we were just stuck fielding all three days),” Rohit said.
“That was the first impression we had of him. Until then, we had only heard that there’s this player called Cheteshwar Pujara, and if we don’t get him out quickly, we’re going to suffer on the field the entire day,” he added.
View this post on Instagram
Cheteshwar Pujara finishes as India’s 8th-highest run-getter in Tests
Pujara, who made his Test debut in 2010, enjoyed a stellar Test career for India spanning over a decade. The right-hander scored a gritty half-century in his debut Test against Australia, but had to wait for another couple of years before cementing his spot in the side. Pujara became India’s permanent no.3 in 2012, replacing the legendary Rahul Dravid.
He soon went on to establish his credentials as one of the finest Test batters in the world, becoming the backbone of India’s Test line-up. He amassed 7195 runs in 103 matches in his Test career at an average of 44.36, including 19 centuries and 35 fifties. Pujara retired on Sunday as India’s eighth-highest run-getter in Test cricket.
His retirement also marked the end of an era for India in Tests after the departures of the likes of R Ashwin, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma from the longest format over the last few months.