Cheteshwar Pujara growing from strength to strength after stint in County Cricket with Sussex
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Cheteshwar Pujara
Cheteshwar Pujara has never been a man in a hurry. Sample this, in 2017, he was selected for the prestigious Arjuna Award. Yet, it was only this Saturday that the hardest batsman in the middle in red-ball cricket went to collect his award from Sports Minister Anurag Thakur. The Arjuna Award is a symbol of supremacy in the field of sports. It carries honor, prestige, and aura with it. Given the commitments that professional athletes have, Pujara waited this long, five years, to collect the Trophy. It tells you, the bearded man who plays for Saurashtra in first-class cricket, is never in a hurry.
In an era where cricketers are ready to give up playing for the country and focus more on the Indian Premier League (IPL) because of the lure of the lucre, Pujara has been massively different. He has missed out on being selected by several franchises at the cattle-like auction called in the IPL, in recent years, yet kept quiet.
The dour batsman, whose batting resembles someone from the old school, with skills, puts a premium on his wicket. His water-tight technique and footwork are important. There is nothing like playing wild shots or crazy shots, for, he has been bred that way. To be sure, in an age of whiz-thud, slam-bang cricket, Pujara resembles a vintage car. He has that elegance and authority in batting, which makes him such an integral part of India’s middle order in Test cricket.
Test cricket is pure, pristine, and purposeful. Contests between batter and bowler, in whites, are engrossing as well as engaging. India has been fortunate that two exponents of red-ball cricket use the bat with grace and guile. Sadly, Ajinkya Rahane, whose grammar of batting is also old school, now founds himself out in the cold.
Pujara, though, has been a very devoted batter, who has never shied away from learning. Despite the mountain of runs he has scored as an accumulator, Pujara has never been too much in the media limelight. There is something called in cricket, pulling the shutters down. That is when wickets have fallen and it’s more important for the batters to stand in the middle with the solidity of a rock.
Cheteshwar Pujara forms the backbone on Indian Test cricket and will feature in the forthcoming series against Bangladesh
This is where Pujara has delivered for India, proof of which are his 6792 runs in 96 Test matches, where he has batted in 164 innings. To have scored 18 centuries and 33 half-centuries is a huge feat, almost monumental. Those who like conventional cricket, where battles between bat and ball can be tantalizing, will agree, Pujara has that aristocratic appearance. He plays for Saurashtra, a state steeped in rich history.
At a time when Young Turks have risen in white ball cricket like Surya Kumar Yadav and Rishabh Pant, it is the old school Pujara who defines the grammar of batting in Tests. He has always batted like an underdog, almost having to prove himself in each innings he steps out to bat. Perhaps, that’s why when he signed up with Sussex for County Cricket last summer, he was in the best frame of mind.
County Cricket was the best thing a cricketer could feature in to test their skills, be it in batting or bowling. There was never a hurry for a player to prove his worth. It required monumental patience to engage in conventional cricket, where County Cricket still has a huge premium. Sample this, last summer, Pujara scored in both the three-day format as well as the white ball cricket. He showed that he could bat according to the situation, be it in red-ball cricket or white-ball cricket. The flurry of three centuries came in the three-day form but adapting to the white ball Royal London Cup was also important. Pujara has also been a mentor of sorts for Pakistan’s Mohammad Rizwan in the County format.
Rizwan is on record as having said he learned a lot from Pujara, in terms of batting skills and concentration, and application. Such appreciation from a player across the border is welcome. Cut to the present, Pujara will be playing in the short Test series against Bangladesh in December. At a time when there is confusion, not clarity, on which Indian players should be selected for T20 and ODIs, the BCCI is dead certain Pujara fits the bill for Test cricket.
He may even go on to be the skipper of the India A tour, which may also happen in Bangladesh before the main Test series. For the record, Pujara made an enormous impact by scoring over 1000 County Championship runs, including a record-breaking three double centuries, and finished the season with an average of 109.4. He has already signed on with Sussex for the 2023 County season.
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S Kannan
(382 Articles Published)