“From about a week” - Cheteshwar Pujara finally breaks silence on his retirement

Cheteshwar Pujara, who announced his retirement from all formats of Indian cricket on Sunday, August 24, has revealed that he had been thinking about retirement for just about a week before making the final call.

Pujara, who is expected to play for Saurashtra in the forthcoming Ranji Trophy 2025-26 season, stunned the cricketing world by retiring from all forms of Indian cricket, which indicates that he will not take part in the forthcoming domestic season.

"See, I didn’t think much about it earlier. From about a week I thought a little that this is the right time. So today when I took this decision, it is quite a proud moment for me and for my whole family. On this day I want to thank all my teammates, my coaches and all the support staff I worked with, because this is a proud moment for me. Representing the Indian team, from childhood, when I was small, it was always a dream to play for India. When that dream got completed and for so many years this journey went on, we created so many memories, so there are many proud moments in my career till now," Pujara told Aaj Tak.

Though Pujara though of representing his state in the forthcoming domestic season initially, he later thought of giving opportunities to the young players in his domestic state team, which propelled him to retire from all forms of cricket.

"This was my personal call and I decided that this is the right time, especially when young players should get opportunities in domestic cricket. Earlier I thought maybe I will play this Ranji season, but then I felt that if young players get the opportunity, they will be ready sooner. So this was my personal call. About the past few years when I wasn’t part of the Indian team, I don’t want to speak much,” he added.

"For me, this is a very memorable day, and the journey with the Indian team, the matches and the series we played, the team’s performances, they all mean a lot to me. Actually, today is a proud moment, a happy day. I got the opportunity to play for India for so many years. In my career, I had two big injuries in 2009 and 2011, to recover from them and still play so many years, I never thought it would happen. So I am grateful that I got the chance to play for the Indian team for so many years," he concluded.

While Pujara made his Test debut against Australia at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru in 2010, he played his last Test against Australia at The Oval in June 2023 in the World Test Championship 2023 Final.

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