One of the most dependable Test cricketers India has produced, Cheteshwar Pujara, is a man of a few words but impeccable character. Over the years in his international cricketing career, Pujara earned many draws for India and played a crucial role in several victories. But the batter is no longer a part of India’s team in any of the three formats. Pujara, who last played for India in 2023, has often produced fine knocks, making selectors contemplate his return. But his fortunes have still not changed.
Pujara’s wife, Puja, in her book ‘The Diary of a Cricketer’s Wife’, has made some staggering revelations about the batter’s cricketing career. In the book, she even narrated how Pujara once overheard a conversation about him being dropped from the team during the 2018-19 Australia tour.
The episode took place while Pujara wasn’t enjoying the best of form, having aggregated just 28 runs in the Perth Test. As India went on to lose the match, with Pujara also trying to manage a light hamstring injury, calls were apparently being made to drop him. The incident took place while Pujara’s father was admitted to a hospital back home.
“Cheteshwar made the most of his three-day break and did not step out of his room much. He alternated between resting his afflicted limb and getting his strained hamstring treated. On the lone occasion when he did, he overheard someone engaged in an intense conversation on the telephone, stating that he did not want my husband to play in the coming match because he was unfit. It was an unpleasant incident. But Cheteshwar gave no sign that he had accidentally become privy to the said exchange. Neither did he tell anyone about Papa’s medical condition,” Puja wrote in her book.
“I only learnt of the incident accidentally on Cheteshwar’s birthday after the tour was over. It was around half-past-two in the afternoon, the lights were off and the room was quite dark. Aditi was napping and Cheteshwar and I were reclining on our bed as I scrolled through our social media pages reading out birthday greetings. One message posted on Instagram was particularly effusive and touching. I read it out aloud to Cheteshwar, remarking, ‘Such a sweet gesture-what a lovely message!’ There was complete silence. He did not say a word. Puzzled, I looked up from my phone and caught a most peculiar expression on Cheteshwar’s face-one that was simultaneously secretive and pitying. I had no trouble translating his mind – it was his vintage you’re so naive-and-trusting look I had seen it before and was therefore quite familiar with it,” she revealed.
A simplistic man with humble character, Pujara eventually decided to bare it all in front of his wife, but not before being persuaded extensively to do so.
‘What’s wrong,’ I asked. ‘Nothing,’ he said, at his taciturn best. But I was not buying it. I knew quite well that when Cheteshwar went completely quiet, it usually meant he was concealing something. It was a frequent occurrence. I usually learnt of on-field gossip and politics from other players’ wives, never from him. Throughout my marriage, Cheteshwar’s description of his various trips had been limited to three unvarying sentences: ‘We had practice, a team meeting and then I returned to the room.’ Day in and day out, year after year, I had been treated to the same standard lines. He was ready to talk about everything but his professional life. There were times when I would wonder if he even knew what was happening in the world around him.
“But in this instance, I was not about to let him clam up on me. He tried to fend me off, but I finally wore him down. ‘This guy you’re praising,’ commented Cheteshwar laconically, ‘wanted me to be dropped from the team because of fitness issues.’ I gaped at him. ‘Why didn’t you tell me earlier? Why did you go through it alone?’ ‘Such things happen,’ he shrugged, ‘and not everything deserves a reaction. I played and played well and that’s what matters. You don’t need to dwell too much on the incident. But it’s important that you learn not to trust everything that takes place on social media’,” she wrote.
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