Year – 2008
Month – November
At the Rajkot Stadium, there were faint cries of ‘oohs and aahs’. A young Cheteshwar Pujara had just been beaten on the outside edge while facing Odisha’s Preetamjit Das in a Ranji Trophy game. Pujara, then just 20, had attempted a cut stroke, only for his bottom hand to take over and for the ball to whistle past the edge. Unfortunately for Preetak and his teammates, Pujara was already batting in the 290s and his team’s score – Saurashtra – had crossed the 550-run mark.
The young man’s concentration prowess, however, didn’t waver. He calmly tapped his helmet and walked across the pitch. Soon, he flicked one towards the boundary hoardings to reach the coveted triple-hundred milestone. By then, he had suffocated his opponents into submission, making them wonder how to chisel a way past the broad blade of Pujara. If there was a face that told the story of stillness and unflinching belief in his ability during Pujara’s formative years, then you have to zoom through the highlights of this innings.
Peel the surface a little more, one would unearth more treasured gems from Pujara’s younger days. Somewhere in 2006, India were taking on England in the semifinal of the Under-19 World Cup. More than England’s rather modest attack, every cricketer’s battle seemed to be with the heat and humidity of Colombo. Every player who took guard at the crease would remove the helmet and wipe the sweat off his forehead after batting for a few minutes.
Just a mere glance at Pujara, and you would start to wonder whether he was thriving in those same conditions. Behind every cover drive of his while facing Mark Nelson or every late cut off Nick James and Graeme White, his determination to bat for long could be observed. He was the only batter in India’s innings to cross the 100-run mark. Ultimately, India emerged victorious by a crushing margin of 234 runs.
Fast-forward to present times and do a simple google search on the day of Pujara’s retirement, and you would have to scroll through thousands of editorials on his deep reservoirs of willpower. The famous wide stance and defensive block. His single-minded focus while being up against Australia’s famed quartet in 2018-19 as well as 2020-21. Lest we forget his Test hundreds in Galle, Johannesburg, Southampton, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Ranchi, and many more.
Amidst all those glittering achievements, the above-mentioned knocks in Rajkot and Colombo won’t even be a footnote. But those two hidden gems flashed in your mind as soon as you read the news on Pujara hanging up his boots. The trail of early memories was like capsules that gave indicators about how Pujara’s playing days might be feted for showcasing the simple virtues of life – stoicism and steadfastness. The kind of attributes that we saw at the Gabba, where he took 11 blows on different parts of his body.
Now add to it his other characteristics – humbleness and down-to-earth nature. The kind of long-lasting qualities that a father would wish to gift to his son or daughter on a birthday. And the kind of traits that would echo in the minds of a generation of cricket aficionados. The Pujara-blockathon will be truly missed.
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