Boria Majumdar
Cheteshwar Pujara hasn’t played for India since the World Test Championshi (WTC) final against Australia at The Oval in June 2023. But with India’s Test side going through a horror run that saw them miss out on a place in this year’s WTC final, is the door open for a comeback in England, where India start the next cycle. In this episode of Backstage with Boria, Pujara opens up on his disappointment at missing out on the Australia tour, the importance of domestic cricket, and how youngsters can be encouraged to play more Tests.
Boria: Do you think you being there in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (2024/2025) team would have made a difference?
Cheteshwar Pujara: Of course. As a player, I have been successful playing in Australia before and have a good record. This makes a player confident and well-prepared for what to expect from the opposition. There is always a better chance to succeed when the scenario is such.
Boria: Be it 2018, 2021, you have always been successful playing in Australia. Did you do anything differently there?
Pujara: So, when I first went to Australia (in 2014-15), initial one or two Test matches weren’t that much of a success. Then, I thought to myself about ways I can prepare myself, so in 2018, I started practicing around 30-40 days before the series. I took the help of two of my fast-bowler friends from my academy and asked them to bowl from 16 yards to 18 yards. This preparation replicating the Australian conditions gave me a lot of confidence.
It’s all about getting a good start. When I played the first Test match, the conditions weren’t ideal, we were 50-3 before lunch and I had to build a partnership. I somehow had a good innings and ended up getting a 100. So, this gave me the belief that if I carry on this format of preparation, things will pay off and that’s what I did for the rest of the series. Eventually, things panned out well for Team India where even our bowling unit did very good – especially (Jasprit) Bumrah, Ishant (Sharma), (Ravichandran) Ashwin – and India got their historic first Test series win on Australian soil.
Boria: How do you have the threshold to take so much pain and body blows like you did in 2021, where the team lacked major players like (Mohammed) Shami, Virat (Kohli), and Bumrah, among others. How did you keep yourself as the glue, keeping the team together, thresholding so much pain?
Pujara: When playing for the country and having in mind the win from 2018, you know how to show your stronger side to the opponent. I knew how crucial was that Gabba Test and the importance of my partnerships with Shubman (Gill) , Rishabh(Pant), so I tried fighting through the pain and controlling my facial expression in front of the Australian team. In Australia, the golden rule is to see through the new ball and our strategy was to bat till lunch without losing any wicket. We knew the session post-lunch would be ours and that’s what panned out for us and we started played attacking cricket post-lunch. Washington (Sundar) and Shardul (Thakur) also came in later after Rishabh. Overall, fighting through that first session was our target, and that’s what we did.
Boria: Talking about the Indian team as a whole and not criticising anyone particularly. The solidity at the No. 3 position was missing on the Australian tour this time. We haven’t won in England either since 2007. Do you think you would be ready for an opportunity to play now? Given your experience playing county in England and performance in domestic.
Pujara: Yes, of course, if the team needs and I get the opportunity, I am prepared from my end. I have been working on my physical fitness, performing well in country and domestic.
Team India has been quite competitive, but has not won a series in England for around 20 years now, so given an opportunity, I would like to give the best from my end and grab the opportunity if the team needs me. This would be the perfect opportunity to contribute when a win is much needed In England.
Boria: Is your hunger, motivation, zeal to push yourself, still the same as before? Will disappointment from not being picked for the recently concluded Australian tour affect your motivation?
Pujara: When one has been successful at the highest level and played more than 100 Test matches and are still not a part of the team, you carry on the hard work that has been the reason behind getting the success. Not getting the opportunity is a big disappointment, but I keep myself ready and motivated because of my love for this game. And out of that love, I keep myself close to the game and routine without expecting much, and through any opportunity I get, be it domestic or county.
Boria: Without much of the crowd, money, and glamour, you have continued playing domestic cricket, both in India and abroad. How important is domestic cricket to Cheteshwar Pujara?
Pujara: It is very important to me as it keeps my rhythm going and keeps me in touch with the red ball. To me, domestic cricket is the best option to prepare and get the match time that you need to make your transition from one Test series to another. Domestic cricket isn’t easy anywhere. Sometimes, the pitch is too flat and you end up scoring a lot but mostly it’s very difficult and scoring well on a difficult pitch gives you a different level of confidence. I think if one wants to be successful in Test cricket, they should play domestic cricket.
Boria: Is it disappointing to be singled out in the age factor when Virat (Kohli), Rohit (Sharma), Ajinkya (Rahane) are almost of the same age as you? Or being the one to be left out while others (who all have been part of the team that failed to perform earlier) have continued to play?
Pujara: When you fail, you fail as a team/unit and not because of a single player. So, missing out on being a part of the team is definitely disappointing for me, as it would have been for anyone else, but I try to take it positively. I try to focus on things that I have in my control. I keep my good performances for Team India in the past (be it in Australia, or England or my performance in India) as my motivation. I always try to play for the team to win. Whether it is Saurashtra or Sussex, I keep my target as contributing to the team. So, getting a chance to get back into the Indian team will have the same motivation from my end even now.
Boria: The way cricket has evolved, white-ball cricket right now has all the money. But according to me, the real legacy is made with red ball and that’s what defines a cricketer. Do you agree?
Pujara: A cricketer is always judged on their performance in Test format, but we also need to understand that in the modern era of cricket, T20 is very popular and the commercial value of T20 cricket is also more.
Boria: Do you feel bad (about not being a part of it now)?
Pujara: No, not at all, I rather feel happy and am very contented about my contribution in the Indian Team. And the players who are working hard playing the shorter format like IPL, they deserve the money. And young players these days get immense popularity, fame, and opportunity in T20 cricket, franchise cricket. They feel like they are missing out on cricket if they are not playing these shorter formats.
Boria: Most young players, including Ranji Trophy players, are more inclined towards getting into playing IPL and not Test cricket. Where do you think Test Cricket is going?
Pujara: With the kind of money IPL has to offer, I do not blame them. The choice and inclination is very obvious when 8-9 crores in IPL for two months is compared with 3-4 crores [for a year] in Test cricket.
Boria: What is the solution? How do we get the next Cheteshwar Pujara?
Pujara: Identifying younger players early on, who are capable of playing the longer format, can help. The importance of Ranji Trophy must increase, match fees of BCCI can always go up (it already has) as I feel domestic players need to get paid a bit more. This can act as a factor to incline young players towards red-ball cricket. The match fee of Test cricket has already increased, so once young players see that playing more and more Test cricket round the year can give them a significant amount of money, then they might feel motivated to play. So somewhere, they will see an opportunity in playing red-ball cricket and still making decent money if they are not in IPL.
Honestly, I feel money shouldn’t be the prime focus when playing cricket, but it’s good money and the career is short, so cannot blame the players. We cannot keep asking the young players to play longer format when all the fame and glory is in the shorter format. Ideally, they should be playing all 3 formats, unless someone is very good in white ball and wants to make a career out of it.
Boria: Where do you stand on this rule by BCCI that players like you, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma should play domestic cricket? Do you think this would help the youngsters?
Pujara: It will help the players of the Test squad to be in touch with the game. But one who is playing all three formats would also need to balance it out and find a break in between. So, I don’t know how much domestic cricket would players like Virat and Rohit want to play. It’s up to them, but for young players, I genuinely feel domestic cricket would help them in the future when playing Test format.
Check out the full interview here
🚨 #CheteshwarPujara Exclusive
“This will be a perfect opportunity to win a test series in England and if I could contribute to the team I would be more than happy” — @cheteshwar1 on the upcoming #ENGvsIND series.
The hunger to perform for the country, looking back at #BGT2024… pic.twitter.com/ZoJykhzQ0j
— RevSportz Global (@RevSportzGlobal) May 1, 2025
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