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Former India batter Robin Uthappa feels Cheteshwar Pujara ‘overextended his stay’ and should have retired a little earlier.
Former India cricketers Cheteshwar Pujara and Robin Uthappa (PTI and Instagram)
Former India cricketer Robin Uthappa offered a candid opinion on Cheteshwar Pujara’s retirement, suggesting that the veteran batter “overextended his stay” and should have retired earlier.
Pujara, one of India’s finest Test specialists, announced his retirement from all forms of cricket after not being picked for the England Test series and subsequently excluded from the Duleep Trophy squads.
According to Uthappa, this decision seemed overdue, especially since the signs of the selectors moving past Pujara were apparent after the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in early 2024.
What Robin Uthappa Said About Cheteshwar Pujara?
“I think he overextended his stay a little bit. I think it was communicated to him that he will not be considered anymore and this England tour was the final straw. It seemed very bleak for Indian cricket to go back to him, Rahane, at the start of a new cycle. I reckoned when he didn’t get picked in that Australia tour, he could have called it time. But obviously, it is very hard,” Uthappa was quoted as saying on his YouTube channel.
Pujara, known for his patience, resilience, and ability to grind down bowling attacks, he was often India’s wall in overseas conditions. However, his last Test appearance came in 2023, as younger players began to take centre stage in the selectors’ plans.
Uthappa also shared a personal anecdote from the 2009-10 domestic season that highlighted Pujara’s single-minded passion for batting.
“I remember it was a first-class game in 2009-10, it was Karnataka versus Saurashtra and he got a triple hundred. He was batting 200-odd end of day’s play. I went early in the morning to have a hit. This guy comes and rocks up at 7:30 in the morning after having scored a double hundred and batted the same amount of time that I batted before going into bat for the game. For him as a personality, he was obsessed with batting and being not out,” he recalled.
Pujara hung up his bat with 7,195 runs to his name, scored at an average of 43.60, from 103 Tests including 18 centuries and 35 fifties, which ranks eighth among India’s all-time leading run-getters. He also accumulated 21,301 runs in first-class cricket.
Ritayan Basu, Senior Sub-Editor, Sports at News18.com. Has been covering domestic and and international football for nearly a decade. Has played and covered badminton. Ocassionally writes cricket content, havin…Read More
Ritayan Basu, Senior Sub-Editor, Sports at News18.com. Has been covering domestic and and international football for nearly a decade. Has played and covered badminton. Ocassionally writes cricket content, havin… Read More
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