Watch: Rohit Sharma shares unknown story of Cheteshwar Pujara from India A's tour of West Indies in 2012
File photo of Cheteshwar Pujara and Rohit Sharma.
At the launch of
Cheteshwar Pujara
's wife Puja's book 'The Diary of a Cricketer's Wife',
Rohit Sharma
revealed an anecdote from their 2012 tour of West Indies. Then part of India A setup, the team were in Trinidad and Tobago when Pujara was mobbed.
"She's aware but she doesn't have the details," stated Pujara when Rohit asked if the incident finds space in the book. After being notified that it doesn't, the host urged the duo to elaborate.
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"I'm a vegetarian, so we were looking for a vegetarian meal at night and it was in TNT [Trinidad and Tobago] where we went out at 11 in the evening," said Pujara before adding, "So, we didn't find the meal but when we were walking back, I was mobbed.
I can't tell you in detail about it but that's the story he's referring to."
In response Rohit, the former India Test and T20I captain chimed in, "Moral of the story, sometimes he can be stubborn. We told him, we warned him, don't go in the night. Don't go outside after 9pm, this is the West Indies."
During the book launch event, among the many things, Rohit credited Pujara for playing over 100 Tests after suffering ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) injuries to both his knees right at the start of his career.
The Mumbai batter also shed light on how they would plan extensively on how to get the Saurashtra batter who had the skill and patience to bat for lengthy periods.
"I still remember, team meetings only revolved around him (on) how to get him out, and if we don't get him out, probably we'd lose the game," Rohit said.
"All I remember is that when I used to go to the ground, when I was 14-years-old, and when I came back in the evening, the colour of my face would be completely different," he said.
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"Because he used to bat all day and we used to field in the sun for (even) 2-3 days. I still remember that my mother asked me a couple of times that when you go to play from home, you look different and when you come home, after a week or 10 days, you look different.
"I would say, 'mom, what do I do? There's a batsman by the name of Cheteshwar Pujara. He's been batting for three days'... so that is the first impression that we had of him," Rohit added.
Pujara has scored 7,195 runs at 43.60 with 19 tons and 35 fifties from 103 Tests for India. While not retired, his last Test appearance came in June 2023.
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