'My mother asked me...' - Rohit Sharma shares his mother's response on Cheteshwar Pujara's first impression during age-group cricketing days

The veteran Indian batter Cheteshwar Pujara is famously known for his gritty, determined and memorable innings throughout his entire First-Class and Test career. He has troubled a lot of world-class bowlers and left all the opponents tired and drained at the end of the day’s play.

Not only in his days in international cricket, Pujara also earned a big fame for his long innings in the youth cricket phase. He used to bat for more than a day to leave the opponent clueless and with no options.

Team meetings only revolved around him – Rohit Sharma

In the same vein, the former Indian Test skipper and Pujara’s long-time teammate, Rohit Sharma, recently recalled an instance when he got the first impression of Cheteshwar Pujara in the age-group cricket. Rohit also shared an interaction with his mom while discussing Pujara during their teenage years. 

“I still remember, team meetings only revolved around him on how to get him out, and if we don’t get him out, we’d probably lose the game,” said Rohit at the launch of a book ‘The life of a Cricketer’s wife’ written Cheteshwar Pujara’s wife Puja Pujara.

“All I remember is that when I used to go to the ground, when I was 14 years old, and when I came back in the evening, the colour of my face would be completely different. Because he used to bat all day, and we used to field in the sun for (even) 2-3 days,” he added later.

Furthermore, Rohit also recalled a conversation with his mother, saying, “I still remember that my mother asked me a couple of times that when you go to play from home, you look different, and when you come home, after a week or 10 days, you look different.”

“I would say, ‘Mom, what do I do? There’s a batsman by the name of Cheteshwar Pujara. He’s been batting for three days… so that is the first impression that we had of him,” he said.