He played 103 Test matches for India.
Just as Cheteshwar Pujara announced his retirement, the first thing which came to mind was not the runs he scored. After almost two decades of watching the sport, we’ve all learnt just one dimension of strength. Tonking sixes that land 20 rows behind, a throw from the boundary which hits the wicket-keeper’s gloves in no time or a whack from the middle of the bat, which results in the ball racing towards the boundary like a tracer bullet! Fierce, brute strength. But there’s another dimension, which only a few artists can bring along. Because the strength that they exhibit has nothing to do with power, but everything to do with art!
SLK
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GAW
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SWDM
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ADKRDM
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GGDM
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DCDM
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ADKRDM
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MIEDM
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DVDM
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SWDM
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SDS
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WDL
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PD
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CDK
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SDS
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NDS
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WDL
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ODW
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BAC
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UCCB
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LKLS
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ACB
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UCCB
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ACB
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BAC
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UCCB
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LKLS
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ACB
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UCCB
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LKLS
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ACB
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BAC
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UCCB
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LKLS
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ACB
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BAC
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BAC
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LKLS
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KENT
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YOR
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SOM
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NOR
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LAN
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MID
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DER
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ESS
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BB
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SUSS
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GLO
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HAM
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GLAM
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LEI
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WOR
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SURR
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JER
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DEN
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GER-W
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ITA-W
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IRE-W
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NED-W
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BAN
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IND
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Match Called off
KZK
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KRMPS
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CEC-A
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KUMS
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ARKS
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TTS
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ALRS
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ATR
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TTS
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KBTS
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ALRS
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CAGS
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SML
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HBT
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MGD
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GBM
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TBC
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TBC
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TBC
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TBC
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RNC
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ROS
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MUT
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IAI
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IAI
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YSG
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MUT
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ROS
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NSBB
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GCT
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SBB
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WYN
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VLLY
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SGR
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OVI
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LOS
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NOS
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MAO
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OIW-W
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LSW-W
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NOS-W
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MOW-W
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KASS
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MEMA
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KARS
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GOLS
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LUF
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NOSK
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KASS
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KARS
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For today’s generation, Cheteshwar Pujara would be a curiosity. His game was nowhere close to flamboyant. He didn’t possess a cover drive that would attract millions of pictures or a straight drive after which he could hold the pose. His technique was predominantly designed around just one principle – defence. And boy, was he good at it! If we could gather a nickel for every time we saw Pujara animated, we would not collect any currency, even after 14 years of his career. Such was his presence on the field. Calm and assuring. Right from the time he started playing the game as a kid, it was as if he understood just one thing about the art of batting – to keep at it until he wore the bowlers down. And hence, Pujara will always go down as one of the finest Test batters India has ever seen.
And it was not always all about defence. But most importantly, he knew when to bring that side of the game out. Australian pacer Josh Hazlewood expressed his relief after knowing that Pujara was not a part of India’s recent Border-Gavaskar Trophy squad. That was what he did to bowlers. He would drag them to the ground. And just when they would be out of energy, he would put his foot on the accelerator. Pujara knew the art of building an innings in Test cricket, which makes him one of the finest.
The 37-year-old scored 19 Test hundreds in his career. Each one of them was a defensive masterclass. However, one of Pujara’s best knocks was nowhere close to a century. But it meant a lot more than a century. Maybe a double! The innings that India’s then No.3 played on January 19, 2021, will go down as one of the most resilient knocks ever played by an Indian in the history of Test cricket.
Soon after the COVID-19 restrictions were lifted, India toured Australia for a four-match Test series in 2020/21. The visitors lost the first game after a humiliating second innings in Adelaide. They bounced back to win the second, on the back of a good team performance led by Ajinkya Rahane. After the grit and determination shown by Ravichandran Ashwin and Hanuma Vihari to draw the third Test at Sydney, it was all down to fortress Gabba. By that time, the visitors had lost most of their key players. To shed some light on that, Mohammed Siraj, who was just two Tests old was leading their pace attack.
As it turned out, India needed 328 runs to win not just the match, but the series on the fifth day. Moreover, the Gabba has always been a fortress for the Australians. The hosts had not lost a single Test at the venue. Little did they know about what was going to unfold.
In walks Cheteshwar Pujara in the ninth over, with the score just 18. While Shubman Gill was busy with his impressive strokeplay at the other end, Pujara did what Pujara does. He batted and batted. But this innings was going to be much more than just batting. It was going to test Pujara’s resilience to the very core. Pujara was jolted with as many as 11 blows on the body by the Australian quicks. But the zeal of the man? Unshaken. He jumped in pain, fell down on the ground, and was consulted by the physio multiple times. He was hit on the glove, elbow, chest, thighs and the helmet, which were the successful targets. But one target remained intact – his resilience.
11 blows is what it took for Cheteshwar Pujara to compile 56 runs. He faced a humongous 211 deliveries, which had just four boundaries in them. It doesn’t always take runs for a batter to stand out. Sometimes, it’s much more than just that. The Aussie pacers were constantly at him, exchanging words and pelting deliveries which felt like fireballs. But there was something different in Pujara’s eyes that day. Something that said, ‘go past me if you can.’ The Australians eventually did, but it was too late. By that time, Rishabh Pant had started doing Rishabh Pant things! Despite earning 19 hundreds in his career, Pujara, like many Indians, will hold that innings dear to his heart.
“Hazlewood walked up to me and said a few things. I was charged up. I just looked into his eyes. The body language and the message to the opposition was very clear – that I am here to fight. I am not going to quit. As long as I can bear the pain, I’ll be there at the crease and fight for my country”, said Pujara narrating an incident after a bouncer from Hazlewood struck his helmet.
One of the most difficult positions to find a footing for a batter in Test cricket is at three. A batter coming in at No.3 has to be well versed with multiple facets of the game. The spot holds a high amount of uncertainty and demands a lot out of the batter. Hence, a very few batters succeed while batting at No.3 over a long period of time. Out of those few, Cheteshwar Pujara definitely makes the cut towards being one of the finest. The former Chennai Super Kings (CSK) batter has got multiple facets to his game. To add to that, he naturally possesses a very calm demeanour and is unshaken by outside noise.
It is often said that a batter at No.3 is almost an opener. A wicket can fall on the first ball of the innings, or it can take 50 overs. Though the batter slated to walk in in both the situations is the same, the situations are poles apart. When the ball is new, it can do a lot of talking. Especially in swinging conditions, the bowlers can easily get on top of their game. Hence, it is important for the batter to show patience and let the ball come towards himself. We will often observe that the batters who succeed in the top three would be the ones who play the ball late. Playing the ball under the eyeline is one of the most essential ingredients of batting in the top three. And throughout his career, there was hardly a moment when Pujara’s bat wasn’t in his control.
The numbers since his debut shed more light on the same. From October 9, 2010 till June 2023, Cheteshwar Pujara scored 6,529 runs at No.3. He stands only behind former New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson. Moreover, in this period, he has got an average of 44.41, which speaks volumes of how consistently he has performed at the position. Pujara has opened the Indian innings on seven occasions, and also holds a ton at the top of the order.
Overall in his career, he scored 7,195 runs at an average of 43.60, consisting of 19 hundreds and 35 fifties. To no surprise, most of his Test runs have come against the Australians. He holds 2074 runs against the Aussies at an average of almost 50. And it doesn’t stop there. On Australian soil, his average still holds close to 50, with three hundreds and five half-centuries. Pujara scored 870 runs on English soil, his second-highest runs in terms of venues except India in Tests. He was an absolute tormentor for bowlers who haven’t been shy about admitting the same.
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Cheteshwar Pujara played his last Test match in June 2023. Since then, India have tried six batters at the same spot in the longest format. While Shubman Gill remains to be the most successful with 972 runs at No.3, he has now shifted base to a spot lower. The retirements of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have made India go down the trial & error way. However, skipper Gill has had a terrific start to his stint at No.4, the two-time World Test Championship (WTC) finalists haven’t yet found their ideal No.3.
Apart from Gill and Kohli, Sai Sudharsan, Karun Nair, KL Rahul and Devdutt Padikkal have made an appearance at the spot. Karun and Sudharsan were the latest players to take the position in the recent Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy. But none of them were able to stamp their authority in the games that they got. With KL Rahul making a firm place at the top, it now boils down to how India prefer to solve their No.3 debacle.
Just like the impact that Pujara has created at the top of the batting order, his void will be extremely difficult to fill. And that is not a new problem for the Indians. It has been more than two years since Pujara played his last Test. But the fact that Shubman Gill & Co. still haven’t found their No.3 proves how difficult it is to conquer the position for a long time. Pujara did it for a span of 14 years, and he will go down as one of the finest No.3’s India ever produced.
Runs are a huge aspect of a batter’s career. But it is never just about the runs. Whenever Pujara will be remembered, it will always be for his resilience that he showed in tough moments. Very few players have the audacity to speak without words, and Pujara was one of them.
In the history of Test cricket, Cheteshwar Pujara will always go down as the Warrior who refused to budge!
