‘My aim is not to entertain someone’: Cheteshwar Pujara explains his approach

Pujara was one of the talking points during India’s tour of Australia and his batting and approach made people sit up and notice.

At a time when the frenetic pace of the game has become the norm, Cheteshwar Pujara is an anomaly. He walks out to the center, takes guard and enters a bubble. His batting is defiant, resolute and stoic. It is not expressive, but for the man, it is all about playing to the situation and not forcing himself to entertain just for the sake of it. “You can’t bat for social media. Many of them don’t understand my game and Test cricket because they see more white-ball cricket. Yaar yeh toh bahut bore kar raha hai, kitna ball khel raha hai (He is boring us, how many balls does he need),” he told Indian Express.

“Please understand one thing, my aim is not to entertain someone, my aim is to win for my team, be it for India or Saurashtra. Somedays I bat fast, somedays I bat slowly. I respect cricket lovers and crowd, I’m not someone who can hit sixes. I try to avoid social media, I don’t follow social media when I am playing. I am not batting for entertainment,” he further added.

Pujara was one of the talking points during India’s tour of Australia and his batting and approach made people sit up and notice. This gave him recognition and ensured people understand his value in the side.

“Things changed after the Australia series. The other day, when I was having dinner in a Mumbai suburb, an old couple told me that after Sunil Gavaskar and Gundappa Viswanath they watch Test matches only because of me,” he added.

“It’s not that I cannot change gears, I can play in shorter formats too. Many people have not seen me bat in white-ball cricket on TV. I know I take some time (to get in) but that’s the way I have been taught when growing up,” the right-hander said.