'Cheteshwar was instrumental in helping Virat Kohli also make a lot of his runs': Ravichandran Ashwin's huge claim after Pujara's retirement

Former India all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin believes that Test legend Cheteshwar Pujara was instrumental in helping Virat Kohli to make a lot of runs in the longest format of the game. Pujara announced his retirement from all forms of international cricket on August 24.

Pujara, who made his international debut on October 9, 2010, against Australia in Bengaluru, ended his career as India's eighth-highest run-getter in the Test format, with 7,195 runs at an average of 43.60 with 19 centuries to his name. Ashwin, who shared the dressing room with both Pujara and Kohli, lauded India's wall 2.0 for his dedication in the longest format of the game.

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"Pujara's contribution at No.3, if you agree or don't, was instrumental in helping Virat Kohli also make a lot of his runs, and I have one such case as an example. In the final Test against South Africa at the Wanderers, where the pitch was deemed too dangerous at one stage, Pujara played 53 balls before he got off the mark. A thankless job a really, really, spiteful Wanderers pitch, the ball was going all over the place," Ashwin said in a tribute video for Pujara on his YouTube channel.

Pujara's last international outing came in 2023 during the World Test Championship Final against Australia at The Oval in London. One of his most memorable knocks came in India's Border-Gavaskar Trophy triumph in Australia in 2018/19 and 2020/21. He troubled Australia with his solid defence and technique.

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Apart from international cricket, Pujara scored 21301 runs from 278 first-class games at an average of 51.82. The red ball veteran slammed 66 tons and 81 half-centuries throughout his first-class career with a best score of 352.

Before Pujara, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli also hung up their boots from the longest format of the game in May before the five-Test match series of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy 2025. Before Rohit and Virat, Ravichandran Ashwin also announced his retirement from the all forms of international cricket midway during the five-Test match series of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25.