Pujara announces retirement from all cricket, drawing a close to a cricket career spanning 103 Tests and 7000+ runs.
Cheteshwar Pujara, an Indian batsman, has declared his retirement from all Indian cricket competitions. The announcement was made on X by the Test batter.
“Wearing the Indian jersey, singing the anthem, and trying my best each time I stepped on the field – it’s impossible to put into words what it truly meant. But as they say, all good things must come to an end, and with immense gratitude I have decided to retire from all forms of Indian cricket,” he said in a post on X.
Pujara, 37, made his debut for India in 2010 and went on to play 103 Test matches and 5 ODIs. At an average of 43.60, he amassed 7,195 Test runs, including 19 hundreds and 35 fifties. He averages 52.58 at home, accounting for 3839 of his total Test score. He was India’s most dependable No. 3 for more than ten years, contributing significantly to some of the team’s most critical Test victories both domestically and abroad.
In June 2023, he played his final Test match at the Oval against Australia in the World Test Championship final. Since that match, Pujara has continued to play red-ball cricket for Saurashtra and for Sussex in the County Championship, despite India searching elsewhere for top-order options.
India won back-to-back series thanks in large part to Pujara. He scored three hundreds in Adelaide, Melbourne, and Sydney in 2018–19 as India won their first Test series in Australia. His tenacity was demonstrated during the tour two years later as he batted out 928 balls in four Test matches against players like Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, and Pat Cummins. Along the road to a heroic 211-ball 56 in Perth, where India achieved one of their most illustrious away Test triumphs, he also sustained multiple injuries.