FirstSports Exclusive: Pujara on missing Tendulkar's farewell party, wife Puja shares emotional truth behind his journey

Indian cricketer Cheteshwar Pujara recently appeared for a heartfelt interview with his author wife Puja where the couple opened up about the struggles, sacrifices, and emotions behind his long and illustrious career. Pujara was a crucial part of the Indian team during their most successful years in Test cricket and his wife Puja has now written a book about his journey.

During an interview with Firstpost, Puja, who wrote a book titled ‘The Diary of a Cricketer’s Wife: A Very Unusual Memoir’ talked about her personal journey as the wife of one of India’s most dependable Test cricketers. Meanwhile, Pujara also contributed to the conversation by opening up on various subjects, including missing out on Sachin Tendulkar’s farewell party.

Puja on putting Pujara’s career first

Puja revealed that she took a step back from her own career so that Pujara could fully focus on cricket because a sportsperson’s career is usually shorter.

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“See, my biggest realization — and I always say this — is that when you’re a sportsperson’s spouse, you have to understand that their career is very demanding. It’s also a short-lived career. If you don’t make good use of that time, you may have just two good years and then vanish. To sustain an international career for 12 to 14 years like we did, it takes a lot. We did it together,” Puja said.

“To make that happen, I knew that if we didn’t prioritize his career at that point, I might not be able to succeed in mine the way I wanted to. And even he might not have received the kind of support or comfort he needed to thrive. So, it was a conscious decision on my part to let him have his time — because there’s an age to that kind of career,” she added.

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“And the kind of work I wanted to do? There’s no age to it. You can begin it later. So many global giants have started their careers at 40 or 45. I didn’t want to jeopardize what he already had, or disregard the sacrifices his parents had made. They had come such a long way. I felt it was my responsibility to give him that extra push so he could sustain himself at the international level,” Puja said.

Pujara on missing Sachin’s farewell party

Meanwhile, Pujara opened up about missing Sachin Tendulkar’s farewell party, which was one of the biggest cricketing events in India at the time. “Yeah, it does come to my mind — I won’t deny that. But there were some important decisions taken at that time, especially considering my aunty’s health. I really wanted to be with her. Every decision has its pros and cons, and you can’t have it both ways.”

“Yes, I was disappointed. If I look back… I mean, I wasn’t sure — even if I had attended the party — whether I would’ve been able to leave in half an hour or an hour, because it was such a big moment, and everyone was there. But emotionally, I wasn’t in the mood to celebrate. My aunty was unwell, and we knew she didn’t have much time left. She was battling a serious illness.”

“Personally, I felt I needed to be there for her. And there were very few days between Sachin Paaji’s last Test match and the next series. So time was really limited. I wouldn’t say I regret that decision, but yes, if I could’ve been in both places at once, that would’ve been the perfect moment,” he explained his decision.