Crushing the pain barrier – mental and physical – became Cheteshwar Pujara’s calling card during an illustrious 13 years in the Indian jersey, the highest point being January 19, 2021.
That day, he knew that he had to survive the first two hours at The Gabba if India wanted to make what till then looked like an improbable victory into reality. To add to his challenges, on one side of the track there were cracks. They had been created as the match had gone on, and balls started misbehaving frequently.
“It was tough, but I knew I had a job at hand,” Pujara explained to in the course of an interaction. “My gameplan was simple on Day 5. We didn’t want to lose wickets in the first session because if Australia had to win the Test, they needed early wickets. It’s okay to be hit, for to stay on that pitch you needed to take those body blows. One particular end had variable bounce, and the ball misbehaved if it hit the cracks. If I tried to get on top of the ball like we do in normal circumstances, it could fly off the glove or the bat handle towards slips or gully.”
And then, he said something that left me stunned. “The choice was between taking some blows on the body or getting out. To tell you bluntly, I had to choose between being in pain and getting out. I chose pain, for I needed to be out there for India and help my team either draw or win the game.”
Once Cheteshwar reached home, his father Arvind could hardly believe what he saw. “When he opened his T-shirt, I saw black spots everywhere,” said Arvind Pujara. “Those were blood clots, and he could still manage a smile. My boy has always been a tough cookie.”
It is very important to make the point that Australia wasn’t the first series where Cheteshwar got hit on the body. Rather, it was second nature to him, and many important Test matches that India won in recent times saw him take body blows. The one that comes closest to Sydney and Brisbane for a gallantry award was the third Test at The Wanderers in South Africa in January 2018. With the series lost, India were playing to avoid a whitewash, and on one of the worst pitches in recent memory. And in that game, Cheteshwar took 54 balls to score his first run!
India’s ‘Man of Steel’, Cheteshwar Pujara, hangs up his boots after a glorious career.@cheteshwar1 #CheteshwarPujara@BoriaMajumdar ✍️https://t.co/OMEEJVbGxC
— RevSportz Global (@RevSportzGlobal) August 24, 2025
“It was certainly one of the hardest wickets that I have played on,” he said. “And before you ask me about taking 54 balls to score my first run, let me tell you I did want to get a run as soon as possible. Having said that, I did not get frustrated for I knew the team needed me to be out there. It did feel good when I got the first run. The dressing room too was all smiles!”
He enjoyed telling that story.
Pujara, may I say, was the punching bag for India. For, only then could the others look good. He played out the new ball more often than not, and set things up. Both the resilience and class will be badly missed.
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