Cheteshwar Pujara retirement: Fans pay tribute to 'silent warrior' of Indian cricket

India batter Cheteshwar Pujara announced his retirement from all forms of Indian cricket on Sunday, August 24. Pujara last played for India in the World Test Championship 2023 final against Australia at the Oval. In an era dominated by T20 cricket, Pujara was a rare batter who kept Test cricket in the highest regard and had the patience to play through long, hostile spells.

His stay at the crease was marked with single-minded zeal to tire out the opposition with his defensive style and later milk them for runs. Throughout the course of his career, Pujara played several timeless knocks for team India, often rescuing them from a top-order collapse.

He burst onto the scene with a match-winning innings of 72 (89) in his debut Test against Australia in Bengaluru 2010, helping India chase down the target of 207 to seal a 2-0 win in the series. In no time, Pujara began plundering runs in home conditions as he was touted as the apt replacement of Rahul Dravid.

He also impressed on his second tour to South Africa in 2013 with scores of 153 and 70 in Johannesburg and Durban. Pujara’ best performance came during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2018-19 against Australia as he helped India register their maiden Test series win in Australia.

He was adjudged Player of the Series in India’s 2-1 victory with 521 runs from seven innings at an average of 74.42 with three hundreds and one fifty. Pujara finished his career with 7195 runs from 103 matches at an average of 43.60 with 19 hundreds and 35 fifties. His highest score of 206* came in the first Test against England in Ahmedabad, 2012.

Apart from that, he also played five ODIs and scored 51 runs. In IPL, Pujara made his debut for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in 2009 and played for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) for three seasons. His last season came for Punjab Kings (PBKS) in 2014, where he accumulated 125 runs from six innings.

Pujara was further bought by Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in 2021 for his base price of Rs 50 lakh but didn’t feature in a single game. As he finally brought curtains on his career, fans paid tribute to the ‘silent warrior of Indian cricket’ for his service to the game.