India ODI captain Rohit Sharma recently told an incident involving senior Test cricketer Cheteshwar Pujara at the launch of his wife Puja Pujara’s book, ‘The Diary of a Cricketer’s Wife’.
At the event, Rohit recalled a moment from India. A tour to the West Indies in 2012, and I asked Pujara if any of it was mentioned in the book. In response, Pujara shared a disturbing event in which he was mugged one night while out for dinner.
“I have not told you. She is aware, yet she lacks specific knowledge. I am a vegetarian. We were seeking for a vegetarian supper at night. We went out around 11 p.m. in Trinidad and Tobago. We didn’t find the food, but while walking back, I was mugged. I can’t go into depth, but that’s the story he’s talking to,” Pujara stated, as reported by Mid Day.
Rohit went on to say that he had cautioned Pujara not to go out at night and called him a stubborn person.
“The morale of the story is that he can be stubborn. We notified him. We advised him against going out at night. Avoid going out after 9 p.m. “This is the West Indies,” Rohit admitted.
We used to tease him for his running: Rohit Sharma
Rohit also praised the Rajkot-born cricketer for his mental strength and resilience, especially for making comebacks after several serious injuries during his career. He recalled how they would often mock Pujara’s running technique, but he went on to play over 100 Test matches for India.
“We used to tease him about his running technique and all that but he managed to play more than 100 Test matches for India after that, a lot of credit goes to him for how he managed it. Great amount of dedication and passion he had to play the sport,” Rohit said.
BGT 2017 was one of the toughest series: Cheteshwar Pujara
Pujara reflected on the demanding nature of international cricket and recalled the 2016/17 Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia, calling it one of the toughest series he had ever been a part of. He emphasized how much it demanded from the players.
“I can mention one incident, in 2017, when India was bowled out for 200 odd runs against Australia, that was one of the toughest Test series I’ve been part of. This was the second Test match at Bangalore, and the team didn’t do well in the first innings, and we were again in a spot of bother in the second innings, but I spoke to Anil (Kumble) bhai about how to tackle Nathan Lyon, and he came up with a technical suggestion,” Pujara concluded.