Former Indian batter Cheteshwar Pujara announced his retirement from all forms of Indian cricket on Sunday, August 24. He retired from international cricket after playing 100 Test matches and joining an elite list of Indian cricketers to have achieved that milestone.
Pujara becomes another modern Indian great to retire from Test cricket following retirements of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin.
Cheteshwar Pujara ended his career with 7195 Test runs with 19 hundreds and 35 fifties. He also scored three double hundreds in his decorated career. He also played four ODIs for India.
Also Read: Top 5 Test Knocks Of Cheteshwar Pujara
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Open To All Opportunities - Cheteshwar Pujara On Coaching
He made his Test debut for India in 2010 and played international cricket for India in a career that spanned for nearly 15 years. He was part of two Test series wins on Australian soil in 2018-19 and 2020-21. He was the leading run-scorer in the 2019 series, scoring 521 runs at 74.42, facing 1258 balls in the series.
Talking to the reporters, he addressed a question on the possibility of coaching in the near future. He said that he has not thought about it at the moment.
"I haven't thought about it yet, till now. I have only retired from cricket, so in the future I will be open to all the opportunities,” Pujara said.
Pujara further explained the thought process behind announcing his retirement from Indian cricket. He said that him not being a part of the current Indian setup forced him to arrive at this decision.
"This plan was going on for a week. I have not been a part of the Indian team for the last few years, but now I thought that this is the right time because young players have got an opportunity in domestic cricket, which is why I made this decision,” Pujara highlighted.
Also Read: Cheteshwar Pujara Retires From All Forms Of Indian Cricket
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I Consulted Everyone Before Retirement Call - Pujara
He concluded by saying that he consulted with his family and the senior players from the Indian cricket team before announcing his decision.
"When you take such a big decision, you take this decision only after talking to your family and your biggest players, so I consulted everyone, and then I decided that it is important to move on," he concluded saying.
Also Read: ‘No one in Rajkot even dreamt you could play for India’ — Pujara reflects on his fantastic journey
