Former India player Aakash Chopra has applauded Cheteshwar Pujara for his stunning contribution to Indian cricket. He added that players with the same grit, determination, and fighting spirit aren’t around anymore as well. However, Pujara announced his retirement from all forms of Indian cricket on Sunday, August 24, as well.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel, ‘Aakash Chopra,’ he said, “Cheteshwar Pujara, dependable Pujara, a lot of grit and determination, the fighting spirit. You get him to do any job and he would do it laughing. They don’t make people like him anymore. Players like him don’t come now. A glorious chapter in Indian and international cricket has ended with Puji.”

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“It was a pleasure, honor, and privilege to play against and alongside you. The team always came first and he would do anything. He will go through a wall, and he will be the wall. The longest Test knock for India has come from Pujara’s bat. He has batted on all five days of a Test match,” he further added. “The best of Sachin Tendulkar came when Rahul Dravid was at his best. The same is true for Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli. You will find that Virat Kohli’s best in Test cricket were the years when Cheteshwar Pujara was at his very, very best. At times, the No. 3 needs to provide a shield for the No. 4 to perform. You make that marriage happen.”

However, Aakash Chopra also added that Cheteshwar Pujara had a huge role in India’s Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2018-19 win as well.

“We keep praising India’s Border-Gavaskar Trophy wins. The first time you won BGT was on the back of his performances. He scored nearly 600 runs and you could win because of that. Yes, it’s about taking 20 wickets, but it is also about batting time. If you bat for five sessions, you grind the opposing team into the ground, and that’s what Pujara did. The 2018-19 series you won was Pujara’s series,” he said.

“After that, when you won again, he was there too. Maybe not at his best in that series, but he was scoring fifties and fighting. There was no part of the body that didn’t get injured. He didn’t give up, he didn’t give in, he didn’t back out, and that is what defines Pujara. He said, ‘I am standing between you and my country’. There was talk in Australia that they had seen more of Pujara than their partners,” Aakash Chopra concluded.