Cheteshwar Pujara

Cheteshwar Pujara, born on January 25, 1988, is a right-handed batsman and a key part of the Indian Test team. An heir apparent to the Great Rahul Dravid, Pujara has been the Rock of the Indian test batting lineup for the last 8 years. He also plays for Saurashtra in first-class cricket and has been part of the Kolkata Knight Riders, Royal Challengers Bangalore, and Kings Eleven Punjab in the IPL. Currently, he is part of the Chennai Super Kings setup in the IPL.

Renowned for his stoic defense, unwavering temperament, and watershed tight technique, Pujara is considered a Test specialist and one of the great numbers 3’s of this generation in test cricket. He is the second-fastest to 1000 test runs for India and holds the record for the most balls faced in an inning (525).

He is fondly called “Chintu” and his hobbies are listening to old music and watching movies. His favorite cricketers are Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, and Ricky Ponting.

Pujara did his schooling at Lal Bahadur Shastri Vidyalaya and RM Chhaya High school in Rajkot, Gujarat. He also completed his BBA from JJ Kundalia College. Touted to be the Next Rahul Dravid of India ever since his arrival to international cricket, Pujara has lived up to the billing as best as possible providing India with numerous milestone performances in Test cricket at critical moments. He played an integral part of India’s most recent series win in Australia by holding one end up and also scoring crucial runs.

Family

Pujara was born in Rajkot, Gujarat to Arvind Pujara and Reena Pujara. His father Arvind and Uncle Bipin were former Ranji Trophy players for Saurashtra. Recognizing his potential early, Pujara’s father would practice with Cheteshwar often from a young age. Pujara’s mother, unfortunately, passed away when he was just 17 years old due to Cancer.

During his vacation, a Young Pujara would often travel with his father to Mumbai for Cricket Training. His father noted then that Pujara’s perfect balance and late defense is what pushed him to enable his son to move towards a cricketing career.

Pujara married Puja Pabari on February 13, 2013, and the couple gave birth to their first child Aditi on February 23, 2018.

Early age cricket and Under 19 Cricket World cup

Pujara started making the headlines in the early 2000s when he scored a triple century at the Under 14 level and those headlines grew louder in 2005 when he scored a breathtaking 211 for India Under 19 on test debut against England Under 19 helping India to an innings victory. This enabled his selection to the Saurashtra team for the Ranji Trophy in late 2005 and to the West Zone team for the Deodar Trophy in early 2006.

He was also selected for 2006 Under 19 World cup based on his scoring 3 fifties in the Afro-Asia Under 19 cup. It was here that Pujara made an earth-shattering mark on the world stage as he ended the tournament as the leading scorer with 349 runs at an incomprehensible average of 117 that included 3 fifties and a century. He was also named as the Man of the tournament on the back of his stellar performance at the World cup. He scored 97 in the Quarterfinals and 129 in the Semifinals against the West Indies and England propelling India to the finals. Although he couldn’t repeat his heroics in the finals which India ended up losing to Pakistan, Pujara had firmly established himself as the next great batsman to look out for in the future.

Pujara later made his T20 debut for Saurashtra in April 2007 and made a 26 ball 43 helping Saurashtra beat Maharashtra. Ever since Pujara has been arguably the greatest batsman at the domestic level with a stellar first-class average of 52.35 while scoring more than 16,000 runs and a List A average of 54.20 that includes an unimaginable 61 total centuries.

By 2013, Pujara became only the ninth batsman ever to have 3 triple centuries and the only one to do it in one month. With numerous centuries and double centuries at the first-class level over a while, it was apparent that Pujara’s impeccable technique combined with an unbelievable appetite for runs would make him one of the greatest test batsmen.

Pujara has been part of various IPL teams since 2010 but has played sparingly owing to his inability to accelerate at the rate required for the format.

Debut in Indian Cricket Team

Pujara was finally selected to the Indian test squad for the 2 test home series against Australia in 2010 on the back of his mountain of runs at the domestic level. He made his debut in the second test of the series in Bengaluru due to injuries to Gautham Gambhir and VVS Laxman.

Pujara missed out in the first innings getting out for just 4 off a snorter from Mitchell Johnson. However, in a tactical change to the batting order, Pujara was promoted to number 3 in the second innings with the pitch aiding reverse swing and spin. Chasing a tricky 207 on a crumbling pitch in the 4th innings, Pujara made a top-notch 72 showcasing excellent footwork and application, especially against Reverse swing and spin. He helped India win the match and in turn the series 2-0. His carrying on from the domestic exploits to the international arena on debut was felt to be the sign of great things come among cricket lovers and experts.

Pujara also made his ODI debut for India against Zimbabwe in 2013 but failed to make an impression and played his last ODI for India against Bangladesh in 2014.

He hasn’t contributed anything substantial in the ODI circuit having only featured in 5 matches for India and none since 2014.

Despite not making a mark in the white-ball formats for India, Pujara has remained arguably its most important batsman in test cricket for the last 8 years. He is considered to be the glue to the batting lineup holding one end up while allowing other free-flowing batters to prosper.

Breakthrough Inning

After making his debut in 2010 and playing only sparingly for a while after, Pujara was re-selected to the Indian squad in 2012 for the two-test series against New Zealand. He was part of the playing eleven for the first test at Hyderabad and walked in to bat in the 10th over after India lost Gambhir. With the pressure of having to perform right away given the stiff competition for places within the Indian side, Pujara made a superb 159 of 306 runs with wickets falling at regular intervals.

With the pitch taking spin right from day 1, Pujara displayed astute footwork and balance with great patience and temperament that was reminiscent of his batting at the domestic level. He was the only centurion in the entire match as India beat New Zealand by an innings and 115 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the series.

It was also Pujara’s maiden international century and paved the way for many such high-quality knocks at the test level for the man who has been India’s most dependable batsman since.

This knock provided Pujara and the Indian team with the blueprint of what the future was likely to be with Pujara performing the role that was played for so many years by the Great Rahul Dravid. It also kickstarted a series of good form for Pujara as he followed this up with a double century and century in the following England series. He then carried this sensational form with another double century against the Aussies in early 2013 before finally cementing his place in the side by scoring a tremendous 153 against the Proteas at Johannesburg while finishing as the highest scorer in the series with 280 runs at an average of 70.

This run of big scores across series between 2012 and 2013 established Pujara as one of the premier test batsmen in World cricket and one of the most prized wickets for opposition teams playing against India.

Future in Cricket

Pujara has played 85 tests for India and has been instrumental in some of their most important test wins, none more than those in the recent Australian tour. He has also been at the forefront of India’s domination in test cricket where they have been ranked number 1 for over 5 years leading to them qualifying for the finals of the World Test Championship.

In parallel, he has also been scoring at will in the domestic circuit for Saurashtra while trying to forge his case to play white-ball cricket as well for India eventually. Although his white-ball career looks done, for now, He remains one of the pillars of Indian cricket in Tests and will be crucial for India to breakthrough with series wins at England and South Africa later in 2021.

Pujara’s exploits over the last decade in test cricket has made him the backbone of the Indian lineup as he goes about the role of trying to see off the new ball, tire the opposition bowlers so that the middle order and the lower order can score runs when conditions are easier and also score at a faster clip.

It’s a role that’s often misunderstood and understated as an inability to score quickly but those in the team and the purists of test cricket understand the vital role Pujara plays making the entire batting unit click especially in testy conditions.