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‘When I got out after a century, team would be all out for 220-230; I scored most runs but we lost’: Cheteshwar Pujara
Pujara, the embodiment of determination, made a mark by prioritising time at the crease over strike rates. His retirement marked the end of a stellar career.
When you think of Cheteshwar Pujara, you think grit, determination, concentration, fight and so on. In the era of strike rates and boundary count, Pujara made batting for time fashionable. He believed in grinding out the opposition. He batted for so long during India's tour of Australia in 2018-19 that their then-head coach Justin Langer got tired of his sight at the crease. That was Pujara in a nutshell. The classical, patient and non-hurried Test batter, who never gave up.
He got dropped from the team more times than any other cricketer with over a 100 Tests in his career you could remember. Yet, you always knew that he would somehow find his way back and so he did, again and again, until the World Test Championship final in 2023.
One of the major reasons the selectors repeatedly returned to Pujara, apart from his class and success at the top level, was his consistency in domestic cricket.
He was a run machine for Saurashtra.
After announcing his retirement on August 27, 2025, drawing curtains on an illustrious career that saw him score 21301 -- 7774 of those came while playing for Saurashtra at a staggering average of 62 with 25 centuries -- runs in 278 first-class matches at an averge of 51.8 with 66 centuries, Pujara said he realised at a very young age that scoring centuries was not enough to win matches.
‘I would score the majority of the runs in that game, and yet we would end up losing’: Pujara
"I started playing for Saurashtra at an early age, when the team was slightly on the weaker side. I still remember those Under-14 days - whenever I scored a hundred and then got out, the team would often be bowled out for 220-230. Sometimes even 180-190," Pujara, who has scored more runs or hit more centuries for Saurashtra, told Cricbuzz.
Pujara said he developed the habit of batting for a long time after he raised the bar from 100 to 150 and then 200.
"I would score the majority of the runs in that game, and yet we would end up losing. After that, I realised that scoring just a hundred was not good enough for the team. I had to score big hundreds. So I started aiming for 150s, double hundreds, even triple hundreds in junior cricket-whether it was Under-14, Under-16, or Under-19. That's how I developed the habit of having patience, discipline, and determination to score big runs," Pujara added.
The 37-year-old, who made his first-class debut in 2005, played a pivotal role in getting Saurashtra to the Elite Group of the Ranji Trophy.
"That habit carried on into the Ranji Trophy as well. At that time, Saurashtra was in the Plate Division. After I made my debut, we got promoted to the Elite Division, and slowly things started to fall into place. But I realised that if I were playing for a slightly weaker team, just scoring a hundred wasn't enough.
"You had to score big runs to give the team a chance to win. That's how the habit started, and it carried on. Eventually, Saurashtra became a stronger unit. But once you create a good habit, it stays with you for a long time," he added.
