Cheteshwar Pujara

Age

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Matches

108

Batting Style

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Bowling Style

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In an Indian cricket team full of gelled hairs and beach bodies, there is one player who is a throwback to those olden days when cricketers spent more time in the nets than in the gym. Cheteshwar Pujara, a Rajkot-born right-handed batsman, first made noise when he scored a double-century against England on his U-19 Test debut in 2005. In the 2006 U-19 World Cup, he was the player of the tournament. Pujara made his international debut in a Test match against Australia in 2010. He didn't make a lot of waves initially. It was when he returned to the team in 2012 after an injury lay-off that he started cementing his position in the Test side. In 2013, when he reached the 1,000 runs mark in Tests, he became the second-fastest Indian to do so. To answer the questions regarding his away form, in the 2013 Test series in South Africa, Pujara put on a show and finished the series as the leading scorer. For a batsman as determined and gritty as Pujara, he is surprisingly bottom-handed. In a world where innovative batsmen are adored, Pujara is a purist—a throwback.