On Sunday, August 23, star India cricketer Cheteshwar Pujaraannounced his retirement from all forms of cricket. The 37-year-old shared a heartfelt post on his Instagram bidding adieu to the game of cricket. Now,
Pujara has also revealed the reason for his retirement after being out of action for six months.
Notably, Cheteshwar Pujara was last seen playing for India during the World Test Championship final against Australia in June 2023. However, his last professional cricket match came during the Ranji Trophy in February 2025. In his recent interview with Sports Tak, Pujara revealed that he thought of playing another Ranji season but decided to retire to make way for the youngsters.
“This was my personal call, and I decided that this is the right time and I think the young players should get an opportunity in domestic cricket. Earlier, I thought I might play the Ranji season, but then I thought if a younger player got an opportunity, they will be groomed early, so this was my personal call” Pujara told Sports Tak.
Winning Test series in Australia was a memorable moment for me: Cheteshwar Pujara
Speaking further, Cheteshwar Pujara also revealed a memorable moment from his cricketing career which was winning Test series in Australia not once but twice in his career. India went on to register their first-ever Test series win down under in 2018-19 under Virat Kohli’s captaincy. . Pujara was awarded Player of the series for amassing 521 runs from four matches in that series. He also played a crucial role in India’s second Test series in Australia in 2020-21 under Ajinkya Rahane’s leadership with 271 runs in four matches.
“In 2018, the team won a series on Australian soil for the first time — that was a memorable moment for me. Then in 2021, they won the Test series again. Both of those series are very special to me” Pujara said.
