Cheteshwar Pujara’s wife, Puja, has made a startling revelation from India’s tour of Australia in 2018-19 about her husband overhearing discussions being dropped from the third Test in Melbourne. Puja revealed about the incident in her book ‘The Diary of a Cricketer’s Wife.
The right-handed Test speciallist, Pujara started the series with a 123 and 71 in the first Test in Adelaide which India won by 31 runs. However, he was disturbed with a hamstring injury and his father’s health before the second Test in Perth. Arvind, Pujara’s father, had to be hospitalised and required an emergency heart procedure after suffering a fall.
Despite these personal challenges, Pujara kept his father’s condition a secret from his teammates. The second Test didn’t go well for Pujara personally as he managed just 28 runs, with India also losing the game.
It was before the third Test in Melbourne when Pujara accidentally overheard a conversation about him being potentially dropped from the team, revealed Puja.
“Cheteshwar made the most of his three-day break and did not step out of his room much. He alternated between resting his afflicted limb and getting his strained hamstring treated. On the lone occasion when he did, he overheard someone engaged in an intense conversation on the telephone, stating that he did not want my husband to play in the coming match because he was unfit. It was an unpleasant incident. But Cheteshwar gave no sign that he had accidentally become privy to the said exchange. Neither did he tell anyone about Papa’s medical condition,” read a part from the book, written by Puja.
When did Pujara reveal the incident?
One of most soft-spoken cricketers in the Indian team, Pujara didn’t reveal the incident until his birthday following the Australia tour when Puja was reading out the wishes on social media. “One message posted on Instagram was particularly effusive and touching. I read it out aloud to Cheteshwar, remarking, ‘Such a sweet gesture—what a lovely message!’ There was complete silence. He did not say a word,” Puja wrote in her book.
Puzzled at Pujara’s reaction, Puja kept on persisting about her husband’s reaction. It took Puja a lot of hard work to finally reveal the truth from her husband. “’This guy you’re praising,’ commented Cheteshwar laconically, ‘wanted me to be dropped from the team because of fitness issues.’ I gaped at him,” Puja added.
“’Why didn’t you tell me earlier? Why did you go through it alone?’ ‘Such things happen,’ he shrugged, ‘and not everything deserves a reaction. I played and played well and that’s what matters. You don’t need to dwell too much on the incident. But it’s important that you learn not to trust everything that takes place on social media.’”
Despite the challenges, Pujara was named the Player of the Series as India tastes their first away Test series victory on Australian soil. The right-hander scored 521 runs from four matches with three hundreds, including one in Melbourne.
