A couple of evenings ahead of India’s third Test against England, Cheteshwar Pujara is driving with his wife and daughter to his hometown Rajkot from Ahmedabad. It’s his 11th wedding anniversary and they have a little celebratory dinner at home on Tuesday night. On Wednesday, he would be at the Test venue for the naming of the stadium after administrator Niranjan Shah. On Thursday, when India start the Test, Pujara will be with his teammates at Sanosara ground in the city, where Saurashtra take on Manipur in Ranji Trophy from Friday.
“If we win that, we have a great chance to qualify for Ranji knockouts,” says Pujara. He slips into a passionate description of the Ranji season thus far. Hundreds, including one on a turner against Rajasthan – “not a sandpit but the ball turned from Day 1 and it was so so satisfying to get a ton to help the team do well in the game,” he says. Somehow, he even found time to turn out for Indian Oil, where he scored a game-turning hundred against the stronger BPCL. Clearly, the passion for batting hasn’t dimmed. “Not just batting, but batting for a cause: to make my team win. It’s a special feeling.”
Sometimes, it’s the outsiders who appreciate you more than your own. From former England captain Michael Atherton to the English journalists, they have expressed surprise at his absence. Even Anil Kumble, while talking about Shubman Gill, said: “He has been given the cushion perhaps even a Cheteshwar Pujara didn’t get, because although he (Pujara) has played over a 100 Tests, I keep coming back to him mainly because that was his place not too long ago,” Kumble had said. The Guardian journalist Ali Martin summed up the English angle on Monday when he tweeted: “With no Virat Kohli in this series, and an Australian tour coming up at end of the year, an in-form Cheteshwar Pujara on his home ground was the play this week.”
Milestone Unlocked 🔓
2⃣0⃣,0⃣0⃣0⃣ First-Class runs for Cheteshwar Pujara! 🙌
He becomes the 4th Indian batter to reach this landmark 👏👏#TeamIndia | @cheteshwar1 pic.twitter.com/wnuNWsvCfH
— BCCI Domestic (@BCCIdomestic) January 21, 2024
Passion and pride
When a couple of those reactions are put to him, Pujara doesn’t fall for the bait; leaves it alone outside off. When pushed, he offers this: “My proudest moment was to represent the Indian team. There is a pride when I walk out to bat for India, there is nothing bigger than that. That feeling that you can win games for your country, that you can make the difference – call it X-factor or a player who will fight for the country to win a game, there is no greater feeling than that on earth. Whenever the opportunity to play for India comes, I will be ready to play with that passion and pride that’s needed and with which I have always played. That will never change.”
What’s not changed, he says, is the pleasure he gets from batting for any team he represents. “When you are in that zone, it’s indescribable.” Urged to explain, the words suddenly start to flow.
𝗗𝗼𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗗𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗖𝗵𝗲𝘁𝗲𝘀𝗵𝘄𝗮𝗿 𝗣𝘂𝗷𝗮𝗿𝗮! 💯💯
A spectacular 2⃣0⃣0⃣ in Rajkot from the Saurashtra batter! 👏👏
Follow the match ▶️ https://t.co/xYOBkksyYt#RanjiTrophy | #SAUvJHA | @IDFCFIRSTBank | @saucricket | @cheteshwar1 pic.twitter.com/ofLZSf2qcl
— BCCI Domestic (@BCCIdomestic) January 7, 2024
“You are in the present moment. Totally, in the here and now. I am watching the ball, trying to react to the merit of it. I have my plans, try to see if I can fit the ball in them, but I am alert, yet relaxed, to the moment. To what it demands of me. What I need to do to play this ball. You have all your experience, preparation, and then somehow, you have to let the moment live you. Be in the present. It’s such a special feeling: to be in the middle of a competitive battle, looking to take the game forward for your team, do what it takes – body blows or shots. It all becomes a muscle memory.”
As a batsman, Pujara is probably the one that has tested the DRS the most. Trying to run down the track not for big drives, but for pushes, nurdles, blocks. And for his wristy on-drives when he gets to the pitch and finds the ball where he wants it to be. And suddenly, to press back and punch or push.
“Even this Ranji season, there have been some turners. Like that game against Rajasthan. On a rank turner, you don’t allow the bowler to settle down. And you have to keep reinventing yourself. In the last 18 months to two years, I have developed the regular sweep shot and the reverse sweep. And use them in the matches these days. Else, the bowlers will feel: oh he is going to step down to drive or go back. With these sweeps, my game has become better – more all-round,” he details.
“If you don’t trust your defense, you will have fear of getting out on such pitches. You have to mix all of it together – attack, defense,” he adds.
Clearly, the batting itch hasn’t left him. “This is what I have loved from my childhood. It was never something I had to do, but something that I wanted to do. I am still enjoying the game. To score runs, to contribute to my team’s success. There is no limit to improvement: fitness, fielding, batting.” The daughter’s voice can be heard in the background and the chat winds down. “She is 6, and to be with her has helped me switch off.” Playing with his daughter, playing with the opposition – the Pujara story promises to continue.
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