'Had he gone to England...': Sanjay Manjrekar's bold statement on Cheteshwar Pujara's retirement

Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar shared a tribute for Cheteshwar Pujara after the latter had announced his retirement on Sunday, August 24. This came as a shock to many as even though the 37-year-old wasn't in India's plans in any format, he was still an important player for Saurashtra in domestic cricket and had had a stellar season for Sussex in County Cricket.

Manjrekar went on to claim that if Pujara would have played for India against England in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, then he could have even went on to score a triple-century. The former batter further remarked that Pujara's career was anything but easy, but the 37-year-old always carried a 'pleasant' smile.

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“Had he gone to England this time around, the kind of bowling attack England had, the pitches that were there in that series, Pujara, even at this stage, would have ended up getting 300," Manjrekar said in a video posted on social media.

“A couple of times, he was dropped from the Indian team, and one comeback that he made was in Sri Lanka, and he had to come back into the playing XI as an opener. And guess what he did? He batted right through the innings. That is Pujara for you, just unbelievable. A very likable person, no matter what. The career wasn’t easy, and for a defensive batter, the kind of grappling that he did, life was tough for him on the cricket field, but he always had this very pleasant smile on his face," he added.

Manjrekar further remarked that whenever Pujara was batting on the crease, it seemed as if he was meditating with the bat in his hand. He even labelled him as a 'monk' because no bowler was able to rattle him.

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“Naam mein hi puja hai (There is prayer in the name itself). Every time he was out on the cricket field and batting, especially, it seemed like ek lambi puja woh kar raha hai (he is doing a long prayer). It was like he was meditating with the bat in hand. I often called him a monk who likes to bat because it seemed like nothing rattled him," Manjrekar further stated.

Pujara's stellar Test career

Meanwhile, Pujara called time on his career after scoring a total of 7195 runs in 103 Tests for India. Though he wasn't able to make much of an impact in the white-ball formats, his contributions with the bat in red-ball cricket will never be forgotten. Pujara maintained a fine average of 43.60 in the longest format along with 19 centuries and 35 half-centuries. Additionally, he is also the eighth-highest run-getter for the Men in Blue in Test cricket.