The last of India's Test purists

Cheteshwar Pujara's contribution to Indian cricket is not measured in sixes or strike-rates, but in time, grit, and unyielding defiance against the world's best attacks. Those who swore by the virtue of patience that Test cricket always stood for, he was that slice from the bygone days when T20 wasn't even an idea

- PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, August 24:

Cheteshwar Pujara never had a cover drive like Virat Kohli.

Neither he took your breath away with a falling hook shot like Rishabh Pant nor did he play a short-arm pull with the finesse of Rohit Sharma that could send the fans into raptures.

But in the era of uber-stylish batters, Pujara was that glue that held the Indian batting together for a decade between 2013-14 till 2023 over a period of 100 plus Test matches.

If Virat Kohli was the structure of the beautiful edifice that was Indian Test batting, Cheteshwar Pujara was definitely the foundation.

An obsessed father Arvind, a small time first-class cricketer with limited means but with big dreams, and a mother, who was a silent rock, made Pujara a man with a tunnel vision.

He never knew the incorrect way of batting, which after the advent of T20 cricket is understandably termed as unconventional. Copybook cricket was like his second skin as father Arvind instilled in him that real cricket was Test cricket.