Former India player Cheteshwar Pujara has revealed his feelings after being signed by Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at the 2021 Indian Premier League (IPL) auction. He also shared how a few Australian players earlier sledged him by saying that he would never get picked by an IPL team as well. Notably, CSK acquired Pujara at his base price of ₹50 lakhs.

Recalling the moment, Pujara said during an interview on Aakash Chopra’s YouTube channel: “In 2018 and even in the 2020-21 series, many times I used to get that sledge from Australian players, ‘You won’t get a chance in the IPL if you bat like this.’ When it happened, I wanted to go back to that Aussie player and tell him that you will get that reward even by performing well in Test cricket.”

However, Cheteshwar Pujara also opened up about how he got to learn many things being
part of CSK’s successful IPL 2021 campaign. He also mentioned that despite not getting a game to play, being in the winning environment was special to him as well.

“I was very pleased and happy that I got that opportunity. It was good to be in the IPL environment again, and fortunately, CSK won the trophy that year. I also got to know about that environment. It is an achievement. I might not have played a game for CSK, but even being in the environment, seeing things like how the team is doing better, which players have contributed, and how the management is managing the team. My contribution to the team winning the title may not be even one percent, but you are in that winning environment, and you learn a lot,” he concluded.