Live Score
Cricket Teams
Cricket Players
‘No one in Rajkot even dreamt you could play for India’ — Pujara
Cheteshwar Pujara talks about the trials and triumphs of his 103-Test journey as he announced his retirement on Sunday.
Mumbai: Cheteshwar Pujara finished as India’s eighth highest Test run-getter, but his cricket went far beyond the numbers. He was the glue that held India’s batting, his stonewalling innings giving others around him wings. In this post-retirement interview, the 37-year-old reflects on the trials and triumphs of his 103-Test journey.
Excerpts
You couldn’t have built this career without your father Arvind. How do you look back at your career?
He played a major role in my cricketing journey. He made me disciplined from a very young age while other kids were enjoying life. But it’s my mother who taught me life lessons. Even though she passed away when I was 17, she made me become the person I am. She would tell me, ‘No matter how big you become in cricket, I want you to become a good human being’. And my wife’s sacrifices and my daughter’s support. Kids teach you to stay in the present.
You had to prove doubters wrong and it started with a long wait for Test debut after four strong domestic seasons…
In spite of scoring tons of runs, because I played for Saurashtra, people would say I scored on flat pitches, which wasn’t the case. I used to score everywhere. I was tagged in a certain manner at times. So, I had to fight it out, but it also made me a better player, because sometimes when you are given an opportunity very early, you don’t value it.
As a kid, I dreamt of playing for India. Coming from a small city like Rajkot, not many even dreamt that way. It was next to impossible. When I made my debut, it was dream come true.
Your batting against spin is underrated. Your home average is above 50. What was the secret?
When you play a lot of domestic cricket, you play on turning tracks a lot…different tournaments like the KSCA, Buchi Babu, etc. Your footwork becomes important and I always had good footwork. I used my feet, which upset most of the spinners and got them to bowl at a particular spot.
Even if it was to defend the ball…
That actually came in a little late. In my early days, I stepped out and defended only occasionally. But in Australia, I had to do it more often on slightly different pitches against Nathan Lyon. I always used to play down the ground and so if the ball wasn’t there to drive, I would go and defend.
How proud are you of those runs in Australia – the 2018 series and 2020-21?
2018 is one of the best Test series, not just because of personal runs (521), but because we won on Australian soil for the first time ever. The 20-21’ series because of our win despite all the injuries and in Covid times. The comeback home win against Australia in 2017 isn’t spoken of that much, but even that was special.
Your batting strike rate debate kept coming up, but Gabba was a great example, the chase would not have been possible without your 211-ball 56.
I knew we had to bat well in the first session and see off the new ball. Unfortunately, from one end there was a crack and I faced that a lot. Most deliveries were bouncing at an awkward height. I decided not to try to get on top of the ball and take it on my body.
When it became easier in the second session as the ball got softer, I broke my finger. I couldn’t generate power and told Ajinkya (captain) and Rishabh (partner) that I won’t be able to play a lot of shots because I can’t hold the bat properly. I had to hold the bat with four fingers. That’s how we planned partnerships and chased down 328. I would say it was one of the toughest situations of a game I dealt with.
Your averages dipped 2019 onwards once WTC took shape. Why did that happen?
One, I thought that we started playing on very challenging pitches. Some were almost unplayable…you needed to be lucky to have scored a 50. Since WTC, most teams started producing pitches with games finishing in three days or so. If you were playing conventional cricket, scoring runs was difficult. One had to play more shots, play with more freedom, but by the time you realised it was too late. To find rhythm, to find form, it didn’t happen. If you look at current cricket, again, teams have realised that you can play on good pitches and still produce results.
