Test stalwart Pujara retires from international cricket

Cheteshwar Pujara, India's Test batting star, has announced his retirement from all forms of Indian cricket.

"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," he wrote in a post on social media.

Pujara's last Test appearance was against Australia in World Test Championship final at the Oval in June 2023.

India's former no.3 hangs up his boots after scoring 7,195 Test runs at an average of 43.60, with 19 hundreds and 35 fifties, finishing as India's eighth-highest Test run-getter.

The Saurashtra player who made his international debut against Australia in 2010, scored a match-winning 72 against a good attack in his maiden game. It wasn't a perfect start in the first few Tests but Pujara soon made his worth felt, especially on home surfaces, smashing a flurry of important hundreds during 2012/13 season, including his very first double century in Ahmedabad versus England.

Over the years, Pujara became an able replacement to Rahul Dravid at no.3, adept at seeing off the new ball through his disciplined batting. He scored hundreds in India, Australia, Bangladesh, England, South Africa and Sri Lanka.

Pujara also had a brilliant List A career, averaging close to 57, but had limited opportunities in a power-packed India white-ball lineup of the 2010s.

Some of Pujara's best performances came in adverse circumstances, such as a feisty 145* that helped secure a series win in Colombo, or his fighting second innings efforts in Sydney (77) and Brisbane (56) during India's historic series win Down Under in 2021.

Australia remained a favourite opposition of Pujara, even as he scored 2074 runs from his Test tally against the side at an average close to 50.