Pujara - The last pure test batsman

Cheteshwar Pujara was perhaps the last player who belonged to the subspecies of batsmen brought up to revere cricket in its longest and most traditional form. (Source: AP/PTI/File)

On March 19th 2018, the last male northern white rhino left on the planet passed away, effectively bringing that sub-species into extinction and throwing conservationists in despair at an irreplaceable loss. Now, with Cheteshwar Pujara having announced his retirement, test cricket afficionados will feel a bit like the wildlife conservationists did in 2018. Pujara too, in many ways, was perhaps the last player who belonged to the subspecies of batsmen brought up to revere cricket in its longest and most traditional form.

The beginning of his test career was almost predictable. Coming off consistent high scores in domestic cricket, his was an easy selection against Australia in October 2010. He replaced VVS Laxman in the XI, when the latter suffered a bad back after taking India to a miracle win at Mohali.

Debuting in the second test at Bangalore, Pujara shrugged off a first innings failure to make a calm 72 in the second knock. Two aspects stood out – the first being that it came at almost run-a-ball, something that would rarely be seen again in his international innings. The second was that it came at number 3 in the batting order, the second innings promotion almost a test from a team management preparing for the future.

A severe knee injury during IPL 2011 put him out of contention for the tours of England and Australia. The simultaneous retirement of Dravid and Laxman paved the way for his return in 2012. He responded with three daddy hundreds, including a double ton, in his first six innings on that comeback and cemented his grip on the number 3 slot. More tons followed, including one in Tendulkar’s final test, indicating that the Indian test batting was in safe hands for the decade to come.

Shock absorber at one-drop 

But contradictory as it may sound, Pujara’s batting was not about ‘mere’ runs. He was a shock absorber. Often coming in early after one of the openers had departed, he got down to the task of staying put and holding one end. He spent time at the crease and ate up balls, absorbing everything the new ball could throw, leaving the pacers tired by the time later-order batsmen arrived. It was a role that demanded patience, fortitude and above all, lack of an ego. Pujara fitted the bill perfectly.

He became the rock others batted around, from a solid Murali Vijay to a dashing Kohli to a steady Rahane. It also meant that while he held up one end, he needed someone to score at the other end too. 

Take the 2014 tour of England for example. In each of the ten innings of that series, Pujara walked out to bat within the first fourteen overs, with the ball hard and new. He played 510 balls in that series, holding his end. Kohli, in comparison, lasted fewer than 300 deliveries despite coming in much later. India’s 1-3 series defeat did not come as a surprise.

Pinnacle in Australia 

The acme was in Australia in 2018-19. In the first test at Adelaide, India were tottering at 127 for 6. Starc was swinging the ball, at 145 kms/hour. Pujara’s 123 took India to a total of 250. In that match, across two innings, he played 450 balls and spent over 11 hours at the crease. In the process, he flattened the Aussie quicks. India’s victory margin was 31 runs.

In the third test at Melbourne, while Bumrah was man of the match, it was Pujara’s first innings century, made off 319 balls and consuming over eight hours that put India at a winning total. This after a surprise decision to bat first on a grassy pitch. A daddy hundred in the final test gave India a first ever series victory in Australia and it was Pujara’s time to be acknowledged as man of the series. At this point Pujara had scored 18 hundreds in 68 tests and seemed all set to cross from being a good player to becoming a great one. Sadly, he declined.

Spin and ‘intent’ challenges

A weakness against spinners emerged. Skipper Kohli began to speak of the need for batsmen to show more ‘intent’ which meant that they needed to score more, in proportion to time spent at the crease instead of merely defending. The implication of this was clear and somewhere a clock had begun ticking.

On the 2020-21 Australia tour, he answered those looking for intent, with ‘impact’. Though he made fewer runs that the earlier tour, he spent 1,366 minutes at the crease, a record for any series of 4 or fewer tests. It was a grind that came after India collapsed for an all-time low of 36 in the first test. In the final match, Pujara anchored the iconic chase at Brisbane with a 211-ball 56 made over 5 hours. During that innings, he was hit 11 times, on the helmet, gloves, arm, thigh and more. Pant was man of the match, Pujara had a blood clot in his shoulder, and India won!

In the 22 tests and 40 innings he played after Brisbane, he struggled, making a solitary century and 7 fifties. And then he was dropped. Even Sunil Gavaskar was indignant at Pujara being dropped, feeling that he had been made a scapegoat. But Pujara had failed to reach 20 as many as twenty-two times in that last phase, failed to make even double digits fifteen times. Across four innings in WTC finals, he made a total of 64 runs. Perhaps the selectors were right in looking at the future.

His manner of batting and his succeeding Dravid at number 3 implied a comparison was inevitable. But that is unfair, both to Pujara and Dravid. The latter was multi-dimensional, a fine ODI batsman who also kept wickets to ensure balance of the team, as well as a successful captain.

Unidimensional, the weakness in his approach

Pujara’s greatest challenge was that he was not just a single-format player, he was also one with a solitary dimension. In an era where players were trying to develop not just two, but three dimensions, to call him an anachronism would be an understatement. And when he lost a bit of form in that single dimension, he made it easy for the selectors to drop him. Last week, when he was excluded from West Zone’s Duleep Trophy squad, the writing was on the wall. In an era when IPL performances seem to matter more than Ranji in deciding selection, will Indian Cricket see another player who can take blows to ensure a victory? Or, like the last male northern white rhino, is this an irreplaceable loss?