Cheteshwar Pujara has decided to hang up his boots in red ball cricket, while he will continue to ply his trade for Saurashtra in Ranji Trophy, and we might see him turning up for one of the county teams in England, but after his announcement, we will never see him turning up for India in white.
Beyond the Numbers
It's very easy to sum up Pujara's career in numbers: 7195 runs at an average of 43.20 in 103 tests with 19 hundreds. Only India batter in Test history to face 500+ balls in an innings. He's the eighth highest run scorer for India in tests, 2nd player from India to score more than 6000 runs at one down in the batting order. But Pujara's career and his contribution to the Indian cricket team is way beyond these numbers. He was the last test purist in this era of T20 juggernaut; he was like the Raga of Bhimsen Joshi in the era of hip-hop and rap.
Sacrificing Flair for Efficiency
Pujara has often been described by experts and analysts as someone who doesn't have a lot of shots and they could be forgiven for thinking that. He's not someone who will hit an off spinner over cover against the turn, nor is he someone who will smother the spin by sweeping a spinner off his length. He used his feet against spinners, but more often than not it was to knock the ball around rather than hitting the bowler over his head. But those who have seen a young Pujara bat fresh out of a superb U-19 World Cup or have seen him play at 4 for Saurashtra know that in order to be successful at number 3 for India, he shelved his shot making for efficiency.
The Price of Patience
It's never easy being a Pujara. It's not an easy job to toil your way to a 20 off 70 balls when the batters at the other end are being flamboyant and hitting the ball to every part of the ground. It's not easy to have both your knees operated on by the time you are 23 and still end up playing 100+ test matches. It's not easy to see your colleagues get big paydays in the cash-rich Indian Premier League while you're playing your trade quietly away from all the glitz and glamour in the country championship year after year. Now, Pujara was not a natural to fit in T20s due to him not being able to dive around in the field neither he was known for hitting monstrous sixes, but he does have a T20 century to his name playing for Saurashtra against Railways scoring 100 not out in 61 balls. His double knee surgery did take a toll on his batting, his swift and nimble foot work lost a bit of its swiftness. His game, which was built around taking quick singles and doubles, had to be remodeled to fit his new playing style.
Monikers and Mantras
The media often associates players with monikers. It not only makes the player easier to market it also allows us to get an insight into the character of that player, whether it's "King Kohli" with Virat, "Hitman" with Rohit, or "Captain Cool" with MS Dhoni. With Pujara, it was pretty obvious what his moniker would be just after his debut test when he scored 72 off 89 balls against Australia in Bengaluru to take India home and complete a rare whitewash against the Aussies. Just like his predecessor, his game was built around the simple mantra of "If the team wants me to do this, I'll do this" whether it's opening the batting on a spicy pitch in Colombo and carrying his bat through the innings or wheather it's blocking the hell out of aussie bowlers in his marathon knock of 202 off 525 balls.
Respect from Rivals
One of the ways to gauge the contribution of a player is to see how respect they are amongst their peers and rivals and on that metric too Pujara stands tall. Who can forget his contributions in the 2018 and 2020 series wins against Australia on their home turf? During one of the tests in the 2018 series Josh Hazelwood said to Pujara "aren't you bored by now, Pujji?" And Pujara in all his calmness and dignity just smiled and shook his head at this comment. This exchange encapsulated Pujara, he just loved to bat it didn't matter to him if it was a test match, a first class match, a club level match or if it was a practice session, he loved batting and most importantly he loved cricket. Pujara was one of those old relics of an era gone by when people played the game just for the love of it and test cricket was considered paramount. Pujara famously turned out for R Ashwin's club side MRC A in March 2019 and scored 162 runs against Crombest Club. This small incident actually shows his commitment to the game more than anything else.
The Art of Batting Long
To be successful in test cricket, you need to either bat long or score big runs. Pujara, in his prime, could do both of these with ease. It's not a coincidence that Kohli's ascent and descent in test cricket coincided with Pujara's. Whenever a team's number 3 scores big runs or bats longer more often than not 1-2 players in the team end up scoring a century. 17 out of his 19 hundreds have come either in victories or draws with him averaging 50.8 and 53.66 respectively. It tells you two things first how important he was to the team's success and second he was one of those rare players who could bat for draws, something which is becoming a lost art in this day and age of T20 cricket.
Battling Indian Pitches
Pitches in India are often labelled as docile or flat by foreign media and experts alike and it's considered easier to score on these pitches as compared to other countries, but this couldn't be any further from the truth. Since 2014, Indian pitches have been one of the most challenging pitches to bat on around the world, and Pujara for a long time stood up to this challenge but ultimately it got to him just like it did to many others in the Indian cricket team. Now the difference between other players and Pujara here was when your game is based around using your defence, a lean patch can often mean a player going completely into his shell and waiting for those loose balls but with pitches being so challenging any ball can have your name on it and if it does you'll end up with a 30 off 90 balls which often happened with players like Pujara.
A Legacy of Grit
But even though he struggled a bit at the end of his career, the streets will never forget his 206 against England, his 204, 202, and 193 against Australia, his 145 and 153 against Sri Lanka, and putting his body on the line in that 2020 series against Australia. Indian cricket says goodbye to one of its best contemporary Test specialists as Pujara announces his retirement.