Cheteshwar Pujara announced his retirement from all forms of cricket on August 24 after having failed to make an appearance for India since the World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia in 2023. The batter called time on his career after playing 103 Tests and 5 ODIs for the Men in Blue. Despite not contributing much in the white-ball formats, Pujara was an integral player in India's Test set-up for over a decade.
After the 37-year-old announced his retirement, wishes started to pour in for him from many Indian cricketers. Virat Kohli was also not far behind and shared a heartfelt message for Pujara two days after he had called time on his career. Kohli thanked the latter for making his job easier at the No.4 position in the batting order.
"Thank you for making my job easier at 4 pujji. You've had an amazing career. Congratulations and wish you the best for what's ahead. God bless," Kohli had written on his Instagram story.
Now, Pujara has reacted to Kohli's praise for him and remarked that he is really proud to have ensured that he made things easy for the batters who came out to bat after him in the order.
“It’s a nice compliment from Virat. He’s a great player. And if he’s saying that I’ve made his life easier, I’m really proud because if you’re a top-order batsman, your job is to ensure that the batters who bat at number 4, 5, 6, you make their life easier," Pujara told PTI.
Pujara's stellar numbers in international/domestic cricket
Meanwhile, Pujara had a remarkable career especially in red-ball cricket. He finished as India's eighth-highest run-cscorer in the format with a total of 7195 runs under his name. The 37-year-old maintained a stunning average of 43.60 in the in red-ball cricket alongwith the highest individual score of 206*. Additionally, he scored 19 centuries and 35 half-centuries in the format.
His numbers in domestic cricket are also nothing short of sensational as in 278 matches, he ended up scoring a total of 21,301 runs. Pujara hit an outrageous 66 hundreds and 81 fifties in first-class matches and also maintained a fantastic average of 51.82 in the format as well.