Cheteshwar Pujara: The last of cricket’s traditionalists?

Cheteshwar Pujara bowed out of international cricket last week without any shimmering farewell match or a sentimental send-off, writes the Cricket Paper’s Megh Mandaliya. 

In many ways, that was fitting. It mirrored the way he batted, sedately, with little fuss, but leaving behind an imprint impossible to overlook. 

A batter’s worth is often distilled into a single figure, such as Brian Lara’s famous 400*, or Ben Stokes’ 135* at Headingley.

But Pujara will be immortalised through 1,258, the number of deliveries he faced in Australia in 2018-19 to plough through a historic series win.

When modern cricket often verges on pyrotechnism, Pujara remains proof that the most enduring runs are those chiselled out with grit. 

Test cricket has arguably lost its last great traditionalist with Pujara’s retirement, a batter who treasures the occupation of crease above all else. 

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Numbers behind the grit

Since his Test debut in 2010, Pujara’s grit is quantified by 16,216, the number of deliveries he has faced in the longest format. 

Across 176 Test innings, the 37-year-old accumulated 7,191 runs with a dot ball percentage of 77. 

He was one of the rare players in Test cricket whose strike rate of 44.3 aligned almost seamlessly with his average of 43.6. 

At his prime, Pujara was a towering presence in the middle order, trailing only the four legendary names of his generation. 

Over the course of his career, only Sir Alastair Cook (68) bettered Pujara’s remarkable tally of first-class centuries (66).

Post Rahul Dravid’s retirement, India found its anchor in Pujara, whose number three exploits frustrated the best bowling attacks in the world. 

The northpaw built the bulk of his runs (6,525) at number three, facilitated by 18 centuries and 13 half-centuries. 

Pujara’s exit in 2023 opened a void at number three, one that India still continues to wrestle with. 

Over the last two years, six different batters have occupied the number three position, but none have paid dividends. 

All of Shubman Gill, Sai Sudharsan, Karun Nair, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, and KL Rahul collectively average 24.08. 

Like all great careers, Pujara’s form eventually waned after 2019, with his average dropping to 32.6 and just two centuries in the next five years. 

Even as his form declined after the pandemic, Pujara revealed sparks of his quality in the twilight of his Test career.

He was instrumental for India during the 2020-21 Border-Gavaskar trophy, negotiating 928 balls in just four Tests, accounting for nearly 6% of all the deliveries he encountered in his career. 

In the same year, Pujara also crafted a 206-ball 45 at Lord’s to clinch a historic Test match victory for India. 

A legacy of fortitude over flair

Pujara’s career was never about blitzkrieg strokeplay. The right-hander has only cleared the ropes 16 in his entire Test career, which is only one shy of Chris Gayle’s 17 in a single IPL onslaught at Bengaluru, and a staggering 82 fewer than New Zealand’s Tim Southee. 

But Pujara’s true value was rooted in the hours spent deflating bowlers, the blows absorbed, and the philosophy about discipline, survival, and patience.

Across his Test career of 103 matches, Pujara has spent more than 21,858 minutes at the crease, which is over 364 hours and equivalent to more than 15 full days of Test cricket. 

The Rajkot-born batter has also batted for more than four hours in an innings on 28 occasions, his ultimate marathon being 672 minutes (over 11 hours) during his 202 against Australia in Ranchi in 2017. 

That vigil remains the longest ever by an Indian in Test cricket.

What Test cricket loses

Pujara’s strike rate and occupying the crease for 200 balls seem almost alien in today’s game. 

Only two prominent openers have operated at identical tempos since Pujara’s debut: Dean Elgar and West Indies’ Kraigg Brathwaite.

The red-ball format itself feels caught in a restless phase, one where endurance on frustrating tracks is becoming more and more scarce. 

That has been borne out unmistakably as the custodians of old-school batting are fading. 

Former South African captain Dean Elgar had also announced his retirement in 2024 before joining Essex for the County Championship, leaving Kraigg Brathwaite as possibly the final notable attritional batting rebel. 

And with England’s “Bazball” redefining Test strategy, Pujara’s way of playing is progressively becoming unfashionable. 

Pujara’s absence at number three leaves not just a statistical void, but also a philosophical one, the reassurance that amidst the anarchy of modern batting, there stood someone who still believed in Test cricket’s truest traditions.

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