Cheteshwar Pujara Retires From All Forms of Cricket Ahead of 2025-26 Domestic Season

Veteran Indian cricketer Cheteshwar Pujara, best known for his exploits in Test cricket, has announced his retirement from all forms of the game, he announced via social media on Sunday (August 24). 

"Wearing the Indian jersey, singing the anthem, and trying my best each time I stepped on the field - it’s impossible to put into words what it truly meant. But as they say, all good things must come to an end, and with immense gratitude I have decided to retire from all forms of Indian cricket. Thank you for all the love and support," he said.

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A Giant of Test Cricket Retires

Pujara played for India in both Tests and ODIs - he was capped 103 times in the longest format of the game and also played 5 ODIs for the country. But it was always Tests where he excelled the most. 

His style of batting was very much a throwback to the eras before white-ball cricket dominated the discourse - he is a player who took pride in being defensively solid and gritty while compiling loads of runs in the process. 

The fact he scored 7195 runs in Test cricket and a whopping 21301 runs in first-class cricket is testament to that hunger for runs, which made him so indispensable at his peak for the Indian Test team. 

Arguably his greatest contributions came in the back-to-back series wins India registered in Australia in 2019-20 and 2020-21. 

His gritty batting wore down the Australian bowlers, which included the fearsome pace trio of Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood and legendary off-spinner Nathan Lyon. 

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A Less-than-ideal Farewell

Pujara's last Test for India came all the way back in 2023 - he was part of the side that lost the WTC Final to Australia. Since then, the Indian team has undergone a reset. 

New batters have been brought in to replace the old guard, as along with Pujara even Ajinkya Rahane was left on the wayside. 

The retirements of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma made the need to groom more youngsters all the more necessary. 

But history will always remember Pujara as someone who shone as a throwback batter in the modern era - and proved that becoming a legend through Test cricket is indeed possible even now.