Cheteshwar Pujara retires from all forms of Indian cricket

India batter Cheteshwar Pujara has announced his retirement from all forms of Indian cricket. The Test batter made the announcement on X (formerly Twitter).

"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 said in a post on X.

Pujara, 37, played 103 Tests and 5 ODIs for India after making his debut in 2010. He scored 7,195 Test runs at an average of 43.60, with 19 hundreds and 35 fifties. For over a decade, he was India's most reliable No. 3, essaying an important role in some of the team's most significant Test wins at home and overseas. His last Test appearance was the World Test Championship final against Australia at the Oval in June 2023. Even as India looked elsewhere for top-order options since that fixture, Pujara continued to ply his trade in red-ball cricket for Saurashtra and also turned out for Sussex in the County Championship.

Pujara stepped into the pivotal No.3 spot in India's Test side, with his predecessor Rahul Dravid being a hard act to follow. Pujara was central to India's India's back-to-back series victories. In 2018-19, he hit three centuries - in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney - as India secured a historic first Test series win Down Under. The tour two years later defined his grit, as he batted out 928 balls across four Tests against the likes of Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc. He also copped several blows to his body enroute to a defiant 211-ball 56 in Perth, where India fashioned one of their most famous away Test victories.

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