Indian cricket bade farewell to one of its reliable Test soldier when Cheteshwar Pujara bid adieu to international cricket on 24 August 2025. The man of obdurate defence and old-world game, the patient block-blocker that Pujara is, will now go down with a legacy that is going to be of one of the most redoubtable red-ball cricketers to have ever played for India.
Pujara had last played for India in the World Test Championship final and the 3-0 series loss to Australia in June 2023. 37, he was calling it a day, quietly, with a touching letter to fans and teammates and the privilege of the Indian jersey and the honor of serving the country for over a decade. A letter in which he stressed how much he owed to so many for the chance they had given him, such support, in his professional career.
Pujara made 7,195 runs from 103 Test matches, at an average of 43.60. And that overall consisted of 19 hundreds and 35 half-centuries. But more than the numbers – and they were impressive too as he made 10,000 international runs across formats – it was his temperament and his ability to soak in pressure that made him an indispensable part of the India batting lineup.
In India’s historic Test series win in Australia in 2018-19, Pujara had his most memorable series. He accumulated 521 runs across seven innings, in a growlingly hostile environment and against world-class fast bowling.His fighting and aggressive cabal gave him the player of the series award and for once, he acted as the spine of Indian success Down Under.
At home, Pujara was not going to quarantine himself. He had scored over 21,000 first-class runs, including 66 hundreds, for Saurashtra. He was instrumental in taking his state team to the Ranji Trophy titles, only reaffirming the myth of him being one of the best batsmen India’s domestic match has ever seen.
Tributes to Mr. Jones flowed in from across the cricketing world. Anil Kumble said he is “really an ambassador of the game” and Sunil Gavaskar said that he had made India proud. Cricket greats, fellow cricketers and fans across platforms expressed largely the same sentiment and reminisced about the time they had with a “modern-day Test warrior” whose dependable character and composure even bailed India out of troubled waters on several occasions.
Pujara’s exit was emblematic of a bygone era. He was the last member of the Indian team since his Test debut in 2010 to retire, marking the end of a generation that had more than its share of stalwarts. Just as with MS Dhoni and Virender Sehwag earlier on, Pujara left without the farewell game he deserved, his legacy a memory, not a grand last hurrah.
And when Indian cricket looks ahead, it sees not just a run-getter but a mosaic of values: discipline, hard work, faith in the timeless beauty of Test cricket.
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