India’s dependable Test No.3, Cheteshwar Pujara, recalled the toughest point of his career, saying he was so disappointed at the time that he couldn’t stop himself from crying.
Pujara reminisced of the period when he got injured for the first time as a youngster playing for Saurashtra and learnt that he wouldn’t be allowed to play for a lengthy period.
“When I had my first injury, to come back from it was the toughest time of my cricketing career. “The moment our team physio came to and spoke to me that the recovery will be about six months.
So, I was so upset, I started crying. I was in a negative mindset at that time. ‘Will I be able to play this game again? Will I be able to play at the international level again?”
To help him overcome that phase, Pujara said his family came to his rescue. “Slowly I started talking to my family members, my father, my friends and they started giving me positive feedback that you will come out of this, don’t worry about it. So, I stopped worrying about my future and started focusing on my present.”
Pujara said in a Youtube interview on ‘Mind Matters’.
Pujara’s journey to become the player he is today hasn’t been short of obstacles. The stoic and determined right-hander has worked extremely hard to earn global recognition as one of the world’s best contemporary Test batsmen.
In what has been a long haul, Pujara initially fought injuries and also the stiff competition to get into the Indian team that was glint with the biggest names when he started off in 2010. Pujara, a prolific run-scorer, made his comeback to the Test side in 2012 following Rahul Dravid’s retirement and has since gone on to make the difficult No.3 position his own.
Pujara has played 85 Tests for India with 6,244 runs to his name at an average of 46.6, which earlier hovered around 50. Pujara has scored 18 centuries and 3 double hundreds in his career, the obvious highlight of which has been his contributions to some of India’s finest wins abroad.
Pujara scored a whopping 521 runs from his 7 innings, including centuries in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney, to help India historically clinch their maiden Test series win in Australia back in the 2018-19 season. Two years later, when Team India repeated their great feat, Pujara batted with even more resolve and resilience and played a pivotal role in another memorable series win Down Under.
Pujara also dwelled upon his ability to concentrate for long periods under toughest of circumstances and said doing yoga and meditation have helped him a great deal.
“Once you are in a negative zone, everything around you become negative. I do yoga and try meditation, I do my prayers every day which helps me to remain in a positive mindset.
he added.
Pujara, who didn’t get a game on the IPL comeback for Chennai Super Kings, will be next seen in action during India’s marquee Test summer in the UK, featuring the World Test Championship final in June against New Zealand and the five-Test series versus England starting August.
