Cheteshwar Pujara announced his retirement from all forms of cricket on Sunday, August 25. The 37-year-old featured for India in a total of 103 Tests and 5 ODIs. He made his international debut back in 2010 with a Test match against Australia. The batter brought an end to his career after being a mainstay in India's Test set-up for little over a decade.
Pujara faced many exceptional bowlers during his time as a batter, who caused a lot of prblems for him at the crease. After announcing his retirement, Pujara has now named the 4 bowlers, who he believes were the toughest challengers he ever faced during his career.
Pujara took the names of former South Africa speedsters Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel and added England's James Anderson and Australia's Pat Cummins to the list as well.
"Across my career, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, James Anderson, and Pat Cummins have been among the most challenging bowlers I’ve faced," Pujara said in an interview with The Times of India.
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Meanwhile, after announcing his unexpected retirement on Sunday, Pujara revealed that this was a personal decision. He further revealed that he had though about playing in the Ranji Trophy this season, but decided to call timke on his career so that a youngster gets the opportunity instead.
"This was my personal call, and I decided that this is the right time and I think the young players should get an opportunity in domestic cricket. Earlier, I thought I might play the Ranji season, but then I thought if a younger player got an opportunity, they will be groomed early, so this was my personal call" Pujara told Sports Tak.
Pujara's fantastic numbers in Test cricket
On the other hand, Pujara scored a total of 7195 runs in his Test career and helped India emerge victorious in several important assignments in the format. He had a stunning average of 43.60 in red-ball cricket, including 19 centuries and 35 fifties. Though he may not have been that successful in white-ball cricket, Pujara's contributions for the national side in the longest format will never be forgotten.