Cheteshwar Pujara

Cheteshwar Pujara's batting was a throwback to eras gone by, not so much in technique as in temperament. In an era of counterattacking batters, Pujara was a rare successful defensive batter who took pleasure in grinding down attacks and then feasting on them.

Son and pupil of former Ranji player Arvind, Pujara grew up piling on big scores even as a boy: a triple-century in Under-14 cricket, and a double against England in Under-19. Yet for years and years Pujara's first-class runs were scoffed at: he played for cricketing backwaters Saurashtra, and Rajkot, his hometown, is known for one of the flattest tracks in India. Pujara worked harder than most to be taken seriously, and his chance in Tests came in his sixth year in first-class cricket, behind contemporaries who had made a name through limited-overs cricket. Pujara grabbed the chance when it arrived: after getting out to a shooter in his first Test innings, he came in ahead of Rahul Dravid at No. 3 and waltzed his way to an excellent 72 in a tricky chase against Australia in Bangalore in October 2010. He soon became the second-fastest Indian to 1000 Test runs (18 innings). When he scored his next domestic triple, no one was scoffing.

For Pujara, the ride was never easy. A knee operation all but ended his limited-overs career, and he kept getting dropped from the Test side for flashier batters until he proved his value to a Test line-up with a show with immaculate defensive batting in India's historic first series win in Australia in 2018-19. He faced 1258 balls in the series - the highest for a visiting batter who played four Tests in a series in Australia - and scored three centuries, batting Australia's bowling into submission.

Pujara remained India's No. 3 mainstay through the 2019-21 World Test Championship cycle. He reprised his role as the Australian bowling attack's nemesis in the 2020-21 Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia, where he faced 928 balls across four Tests, and grinding out a 211-ball 56 in Brisbane, all while absorbing body blows that would have felled any other batter. India's 2-1 triumph, capped by victory at the Gabba, owed much to his defiance.

Runs were harder to come by after 2021. He went without a century between January 2019 and December 2022, but passed 6000 Test runs in 2021, becoming only the 11th Indian to the milestone.

After being dropped in early 2022, he forced his way back into national contention with a prolific county stint at Sussex, where he reeled off five centuries, including a double, in the 2022 County Championship. Those runs earned him a recall for the rescheduled 2021 Test against England at Edgbaston in July 2022, where he scored a steady 66 in the second innings.

Though he played seven more Tests and rang up over 400 runs, the 2023 World Test Championship final proved to be his final appearance, as India looked to transition to the next generation of batters. Pujara announced his retirement in August 2025, finishing with 103 Tests, scoring 7195 runs at an average 43.6, with 19 hundreds, and a place in India's batting lore as one of its bulwarks.