Cheteshwar Pujara: 'You do get frustrated, even if you have to prove yourself after 90 Tests'

Cheteshwar Pujara opened up on getting dropped from the Indian Test team in the aftermath of the ICC World Test Championship final defeat against Australia, saying it was a frustrating experience and left him with self doubt and a bruised ego. Pujara maintained a vice-like grip on India’s No 3 slot in the Test team for more than a decade since the retirement of batting legend Rahul Dravid. He was, in fact, was considered by many to be a spiritual successor to ‘The Wall’ for his ability to grind the best of bowling attacks out with his patience and steadfastness. The Saurashtra batter’s form however nosedived in recent years that, with Pujara not having scored a century in the format between January 2019 and December 2022, leading to questions over his place in the side. After a disappointing run both in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy as well as in the WTC final against Australia, which the Indians ended up losing by 209 runs, the veteran of 103 Tests was overlooked for the Test series in the West Indies. “There have been ups and downs in the last few years. It tests you as a player because having played, say more than 90 Test matches, I still had to prove myself. I still had to prove that I belonged there. It’s a different type of challenge,” Pujara told The Final Word podcast. Also Read | Gavaskar slams selectors for dropping Pujara, ignoring Sarfaraz Pujara said the axing sometimes left him a frustrated person. “Sometimes you do get frustrated, even if you have to prove yourself after 90 Tests and five-six thousand, whatever number of runs I had scored. It’s not easy. Sometimes it plays around with your ego. There are still doubts — are you good enough. “If you have to prove yourself again and again, (you wonder) whether it is worth it,” said Pujara, who is now playing for Sussex in English County cricket. Pujara was India’s second highest run-getter in the last WTC cycle (2021-2023) with 928 runs from 17 Tests, a mere four runs behind top-placed Virat Kohli. Pujara also made his presence felt in the domestic matches with three hundreds. The Saurashtra man made 133 for West Zone against Central Zone in the Duleep Trophy semi-finals. He followed it up with unbeaten 106 and 117 for Sussex against Northamptonshire and Somerset respectively in the One-Day Cup. Pujara is convinced that he has a lot more to offer to Indian cricket. “I know that the kind of contributions I have made to Indian cricket, I still have a lot to contribute. I was given an interesting stat some time ago. “I was told that whenever I have scored more than 70 or 80 runs for the Indian team, about 80 per cent of the time India have gone on to win…or we haven’t lost that particular Test match,” he said. However, Pujara said he was not worried about selection and his focus will be on further sharpening his game. “In my cricketing career, I have been put under pressure so many times where I’ve lost my spot in the team. But you just try and play for the team. You don’t try and play for your spot. “If you play for your spot, you’re just another selfish cricketer who is just being there in the playing XI, playing for the spot but not contributing to the team.” With inputs from PTI