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Cheteshwar Pujara retires from Indian Cricket: India’s reliable no.3 bids farewell after 103 tests
Cheteshwar Pujara retires from all forms of Indian cricket after 103 Tests and 7,195 runs, leaving behind iconic knocks that shaped India’s greatest Test victories.
India batter Cheteshwar Pujara has announced his retirement from all forms of Indian cricket. The 37-year-old Test specialist shared the news on X (formerly Twitter). “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 wrote.
Cheteshwar Pujara played 103 Tests and 5 ODIs after debuting in 2010. He scored 7,195 Test runs at an average of 43.60, with 19 hundreds and 35 fifties as per CricBuzz. At home, he made 3,839 runs at 52.58. His last India appearance came in the World Test Championship final against Australia at The Oval in June 2023.
Career by the numbers and milestones
For over a decade, Pujara was India’s most reliable No. 3 in Test cricket. His first Test hundred arrived against New Zealand in Hyderabad in August 2012. Two months later, he hit a double century against England and followed it with a ton at the Wankhede. He batted on all five days of a Test, a rare feat achieved by only three Indians: ML Jaisimha, Ravi Shastri, and Pujara.
Notable away efforts include 153 at Johannesburg in 2013, 145 in Colombo in 2015, and an unbeaten 132 at Southampton in 2018. In Ranchi, he ground out a double hundred across 525 balls and 672 minutes, a classic Cheteshwar Pujara marathon.
Here’s what defined his legacy: Australia 2018-19
Pujara was central to India’s back-to-back series wins in Australia. In 2018-19, he scored three centuries, Adelaide, Melbourne, and Sydney, amassing 521 runs and facing 1,258 balls to win Player of the Series. In the 2020-21 tour, his grit stood out again as he absorbed 928 balls across four Tests, including a 211-ball 56 in Brisbane that helped set up a famous win.
Beyond India duty, he kept sharpening his red-ball game with Saurashtra and Sussex in the County Championship.
A small-town great who stayed true to red-ball cricket
Pujara’s journey began in Rajkot, Gujarat, and was built on patience and first-class volume. He has faced 41,000-plus deliveries in first-class cricket and converted 66 into hundreds, underlining his appetite for long innings. A couple of days before the announcement, he told his father, Arvind, about his decision. “Don’t you want to play one more Ranji Trophy season?” his father asked. “No,” Pujara replied. Reflecting on the moment, Pujara said, “He looked relaxed and even I am feeling a lot lighter.”
With 7,195 Test runs, ahead of stalwarts like Dilip Vengsarkar and Mohammad Azharuddin, Pujara leaves as India’s eighth-highest Test run-scorer.
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