The Indian Test specialist Cheteshwar Pujara is arguably one of the crucial cogs of the Indian Test squad due to his consistent performances and habit of scoring big since his debut in October 2010. Pujara came in the limelight when he played a brilliant knock of 206* against England at Ahmedabad in November 2012.
Since then, Cheteshwar has come a long way and hence become a regular member of the Test squad. In a video uploaded by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Pujara along with his father, Arvind Pujara, spoke about the rapport with each other when it comes to cricket and how his father helped him in his early days with the game.
When asked about how strict his father was, Pujara said, “I would say that he was very strict, especially in my early days. I was never allowed to go anywhere and celebrate any festivals. I was never allowed to participate in the kite flying festival or burst firecrackers during Diwali because if I suffered an injury I wouldn’t have been able to go for the practice the following day.”
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However, Pujara jr. mentioned that they have come to terms now and father understands that cricketers too need to relax a bit.
The Test specialist revealed, “I had so many restrictions in my early days, but it helped me focus on my game. And now, we have come to terms where now he is a bit liberal about what I do. He understands that there are times when cricketers need to relax a bit. So now we have a good rapport.”
🎥🎥 A rendezvous with the Pujaras.
Rewind to the time when the Pujaras spoke about cricket and a lot more at their Rajkot residence.
Full video here – https://t.co/5bARYmE9ET pic.twitter.com/h3QgOeXgHB
— BCCI (@BCCI) October 3, 2018
Talking about how big a role his father played in his life, Cheteshwar explained, “Not just as a coach but even as a father, he was helped me a lot. When I was seventeen I lost my mother. It wasn’t easy to go through that phase but mentally he was very strong and we kept working on my game. He has a huge role to play in my life and cricket as well.”
Recalling how close his father is to the game of cricket, the Saurashtra batsman said that his fans would know more about his hobbies than his father.
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Pujara jokingly said, “Whenever he talks, he will just talk about cricket. If you ask him anything apart from cricket, with respect to me, I don’t think he will be able to answer that. My fans will know more about my hobbies than my father.”
With India ready to host the Windies for the first Test of the two-match series in Rajkot, Pujara sr. said that it is a proud moment for Rajkot as it is hosting its maiden Test match and two players from Saurashtra — Pujara and Ravindra Jadeja — will be playing for Team India.
