Cheteshwar Pujara recently announced his sudden retirement from all forms of cricket after not being able to make an appearance for the Indian team sinnce the World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia in 2023. The 37-year-old called time on his career after featuring in 103 Tests and 5 ODIs for the national team.
Despite not being able to have much of an impact in the white-ball formats, it was red-ball cricket where Pujara excelled. He finished as the eight-highest run-getter for the Men in Blue in the longest format with a total of 7195 runs under his belt.
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Pujara has become a broadcaster as of recent and has been thoroughly enhjoying his work. However, the former batter is also open to take up a coaching role if an opportunity arises in the future. In an interaction, Pujara remarked that he wants to stay attached to the game and will love to contribute in any way towards Indian cricket even after retirement.
“I’ve enjoyed the broadcasting work for sure. So, I’ll definitely continue doing that. When it comes to coaching or any work at the NCA (Centre of Excellence), I’ll be open to it," Pujara told PTI.
“I haven’t genuinely thought about it. Whenever there is any opportunity which arises, I’ll try and take a call then…I’ve mentioned this earlier also that I would like to stay attached to the game. So, in whatever manner I can contribute to Indian cricket, I’ll be more than happy to do so," he added.
Meanwhile, wishes poured in for Pujara after he announced his retirement on August 24. From Sachin Tendulkar to Virat Kohli, there were a huge number of Indian cricketers who wished the batter well for his future endeavours. This once again showed how important of a player Pujara was for the Men in Blue. There are many of his Test knocks that will never be forgotten by Indian fans.
Pujara's stunning numbers in domestic cricket
On the other hand, Pujara has exceptional numbers at the domestic level as well. In 278 matches, the 37-year-old scored a total of 21,301 runs in first-class cricket, including 66 hundreds and 81 half-centuries. He is also nothing short of a legend for his state team of Saurashtra and had helped them in getting promoted from the Plate division to the Elite division.