The sun comes up. The wind whistles.
The bowler runs into and releases the ball.
It reaches Pujara. Pujara leaves.
Tap. Tock. Tap. Tock.
****
The sun is shining clear now. The Bowler sweat.
Another delivery, Pujara defends.
The field players look at the air. Spectators break with their fingers.
Tap. Tock. Tap. Tock.
****
You step away from the cricket and take a walk.
Flowers float with the wind, river flows glisten. Even inside you can hear every drop of water while washing the dishes, the TV buzzes softly in the background.
Back on the field, applause drives over the stands. Commentators fill the silence. You start to notice the shades of grass, the cracks on the field, the shape of the referee’s hat.
Hours pass. The sun starts to undergo.
Friends catch up with a beer, rivals are partners, reuniting families.
The bowlers are still walking in. And Cheteshwar Pujara is still there.
Block. A single one. A few runs. A four on the ground. Block again.
Tap. Tock. Tap. Tock.
****
Cheteshwar Pujara you could make feeling Time and cricket in its purest form.
The fresh sound of his defensive blow that hit the middle of the willow had its own beauty.
You may not be glued on your screens for every ball, but you knew it: as long as he was there, Team India was safe.
That safety net has now disappeared. Pujara is officially retired. In his own words: “All good things must put an end.”
Including Getty Images
The day Pujara arrived – My first memory
I vividly remember that of Pujara debut in 2010. In a tense second innovation pursuit of 207, he was sent to #3 while Rahul Dravid the order was dropped.
Pujara scored 72 (129) with a success rate of 80.89. At that moment I thought to myself, India had found an absolute gem.
At the same time it felt like the beginning of the end for Rahul Dravid, my favorite player who grew up (here is the first article I have ever written, What Rahul Dravid learned me).
The death of the torch happened in real time.
Pujara Dawn -Decennium
Later that year in South Africa, Pujara struggled against the pace and bouncing. After the horrors of 0-8 in 2011 and the retirement of Laxman and Dravid, he roared back to the side in 2012.
Between August 2012 and March 2013, Pujara 159, 206*, 135 and 204 against Nieuw -Zeeland, England and Australia score, in which he confirms his place in the team for a decade.
He continued to deliver memorable beats for the next four years: 153 in JohannesburgWearing bat with a 145* in Colombo202 on Ranchi, and a series of hundreds against Sri Lanka in 2017.
Towards the end of 2017, 29-year-old Pujara had played 53 tests, on average 53.38.
Pujara’s year beautiful – The nightmare of Australia, his masterpiece
In 1905, Albert Einstein published articles about photo -electric effect, special theory of relativity, Brownse movement and E = Mc^2, all in one year. Such an achievement becomes one Scientists’ Year great or “wonder year.”
Sir Isaac Newton had his wonder year in 1665-1666 (Calculus, movement laws, gravity). Marie Curie discovered Polonium and Radium in 1898, Ramanujan caused a revolution in partitions and prime numbers in 1919-20, Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps dominated 2008 and Sachin Tendulkar owned 1998.
For Cheteshwar Pujara it was the Border-Gavaskar series 2018-19.
Australia is a cemetery for visiting parties, especially Asian teams. India came near 2003-04 with a 1-1 draw, but a series of victory remained elusive.
Against Cummins, Starc, Hazlewood and Lyon in their prime, the performances of Pujara were downright heroic: from 3/19, Pujara, 123 at Adelaide Reed India, followed it with a 71 (204) in the second innings, a Christmas Day century in the MCGand one 193-ranking epic In Sydney.
After facing 1258 balls, 521 runs to score for 3 centuries, he rightly won the player of the Series Award in the historic 2-1 victory of India.
Pujara wore India on his shoulders in that series and confirmed his place in the Legends Pantheon in Indian Cricket.
Including Getty Images
Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2020-21: The series that Grit defined
The next tour was not that productive for Pujara, but he was just as instrumental.
He scored 271 runs of 928 balls. Not hundreds and three of his own slowest fifties. Yet he hung in it, Took the body to succeedAnd helped India again to a 2-1 victory, and returned from 36/9.
An unlikely triumph, one of the most memorable in recent history.
Also read: India vs Australia Series Review 2020-21: The Greatest Story of All all? Better than Ashes 2005? Top 10 Life lessons from India versus Australia 2020
The unlikely allies, Pujara and Pant
The stay at the Crease and Building Partnerships was the greatest power of Pujara. While he was on the fold, India scored 53471 points.
He forged partnerships with Murali Vijay, Ajinkya Rahane and of course Virat Kohli. But my favorite was the Pujara-Pant Partnership.
Yin and Yang, Bullet Train and Freight Train, Cheetah and Sloth. Regardless of the analogy you choose, their unlikely couples were perfectly synchronous.
Including Getty Images
Has Pujara fulfilled his potential?
The 2023 WTC finalWhere India lost its second consecutive title, his last test would be. In the last four years, Pujara had an average of 20.37, 28.08, 45.44 and 25.85, causing his career average to fall from a peak of 67.63 (after 16 tests) to 43.6.
Pujara-Kohli-Rahane was intended to follow Dravid-Detulkar-Laxman. They all had their moments, a few productive years, but it ended much too early.
Rahane did not make the 100 tests and Kohli fell 770 points short of the 10K club. While Pujara crossed the milestone of 100 tests, played for 13 years and scored 7195 points, he faced 15,041 fewer balls than Dravid.
But numbers only tell a part of the story. In an era of challenging pitches, he struck in which batters of top order struggled worldwide. Yet he conquered the mighty Australians, not once, but twice.
And nobody can ever take that from him.
Also read: Top 60 largest Indian cricketers
Including Getty Images
The last of its kind
Rahul Dravid’s Sponge profile Starts with “Rahul Dravid was probably one of the last classic test competitions.”
He was a rare race but was not alone: ​​Chanderpaul, Younis Khan, Graeme Smith, Sangakkara stood next to him. Later Cook, Trott, Elgar, Azhar Ali and yes, Pujara came.
Although Root and Williamson continue the tradition of batting the test match, their style combines the old one in modern.
But with Pujara’s retirement, it feels like the cricket world has really witnessed the last of the classic test.
The end of an era.
What Cheteshwar Pujara has taught me
We live in a world of reels and taps, where looking at a clip of 15 seconds too long, a boring class of 45 minutes and a five -year career? Incredibly.
In a world of immediate satisfaction, Pujara reminds me that old-school values ​​still matter.
Resistance. Patience. Grain. These words are immediately eligible if you think of Pujara. His relationship with De Tijd was outside the imagination. The ability to have a long -term vision, while every moment counts.
What shall I remember the most?
Apart from the Australia series and the partnerships, I will remember Pujara’s cut shots and remember movement against spider. Talk about spider, a word about Nathan Lyon.
Nathan Lyon vs Pujara was one of the largest matches of our generation. One of the best off-spinners of all time tried every trick, and the only thing that Pujara does is dancing by filling the wicket and to fill it away. Something I will never forget.
I strongly recommend the first season of The ash. The Australians saw so much from Pujara that he broke them mentally and physically. I will leave you with a few quotes from that web series:
This man Simply “bats and bats and bats. “
“Pujara, for a younger generation, is almost a curiosity. As the game goes more and more to T20, the savior of our game starts, the word” resilience “starts because there is no time for resilience.”
– Harsha Bhogle
“Pujara is old school, he is a classic batsman of the test competition.”
– Peter Lalor
****
Thank you for reading! If you liked this, you can read In the Hulde and Biographies section.
Including Getty Images
Before you go, consider supporting and buying my book on Amazon!
Amazon Link: Power Play: 10 Life Lessons From the Sport of Cricket: Border Gavaskar Trophy 2020-21 Edition
BCD#402 © copyright @nitesh Mathur and Broken Cricket Dreams, LLC 2023. Originally published on 28/09/2025. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without the express and written permission of the author and/or owner of this site is strictly prohibited. Fragments and links can be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to broken cricket dreams with the correct and specific direction for the original content (ie linked to the exact message/article).
Related
#Pujara #Bat #moving #poetry #Pujara #retiring #quietly #unforgettable #Broken #Cricket #Dreams #Cricket #Blog