Cheteshwar Pujara

Son of former Ranji player Arvind Pujara, Cheteshwar Pujara has always shown a big appetite for runs. Cheteshwar led the domestic run charts consistently since his first Class debut in 2005, even impressing at the 2006 Under-19 World Cup. Scores as big as the ones Cheteshwar was piling up had not been seen on the domestic circuit since VVS Laxman was a youngster trying to seal his place in the team. Pujara's tools were simple classical batting principles mixed with the stern discipline and focus needed to build mammoth innings.

Pujara notched up a triple hundred at the Under-14 level and followed it up with many big scores including three triple hundreds for Saurashtra in age group tournaments and in the Ranji Trophy Super League. He also scored a triple century against Karnataka in the quarterfinals of the Ranji Trophy 2013, securing a berth for Saurashtra in the Semis. He made his Test debut against Australia at Bangalore in 2010, hitting a crucial 72 in the 4th innings chase. But a serious knee injury he sustained in the 2011 IPL ruled him out of the 2011-12 tours of West Indies, England and Australia where India often registered batting collapses.


He set about compiling big scores as soon as he returned to the Test side, scoring match winning hundreds and double hundreds against New Zealand, England and Australia to rise to no. 10 on the ICC’s Test batting rankings list. Meanwhile, his form in the 2012-13 Challenger Trophy earned him a spot in the ODI squad for the series against England.

His rich run of late also saw him become the second fastest Indian to score 1000 Test runs, after Vinod Kambli. RCB will hope he adapts his game for T20s as well this IPL, extending his dominance to all formats of the game.

RCB Highlights

RCB vs. DC, Hyderabad, 2011
As a batsman in the classical mould batting at no.7 in a T20 game, one cannot expect much, but Pujara came out in this situation and lent support to Kohli at the other end who was set. Pujara didn't just rotate the strike but also helped the run rate with his 25 off 15 to keep the match alive. His dismissal in the over saw the game slip away but his fighting knock showed that he could adapt just as well to any format of the game.