“Have to go for KKR trials…” - Jaydev Unadkat remembers Chetshwar Pujara’s help on latters retirement

Cheteshwar Pujara announced retirement from all forms of cricket on August 23. Several fans and pundits congratulated the Test cricket maverick on his glorious journey. Pujara, who debuted in 2010 for India with a Test against Australia in Bengaluru, played his final Test for India in 2023 against the same opposition at the Oval as it was the final of World Test Championship 2023.

On the eve of Pujara’s retirement, Jaydev Unadkat, who has shared dressing room with Pujara during his stint with the Indian team and Saurashtra in the domestic cricket, shared his thoughts and helpful nature of Pujara. He reminisced the good old days where Pujara had helped him bag the contract with Kolkata Knight Riders in Indian Premier League and spoke very highly of veteran player.

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“Hi Jaydev, this is Cheteshwar. I have had a word with Dada and you have to go for KKR trials. You are bowling very well so keep it up!”

This was our first conversation on phone after one of our ranji trophy nets where I was still a net bowler, back in 2010. Little did I know back then, that we would become best mates and share some of our finest memories, and not just on the field!…”Unadkat continue in his twitter post.

Here’s Unadkat’s post on Twitter:

Here’s a few stats for Pujara for the last 12 months

County- 6 centuries in 2023 for Sussex

Ranji trophy - scored his 18th double hundred & 25th Ranji.

Six centuries in 2024 for Saurashtra and Sussex combined 

Pujara crossed the 21000 run mark in first class cricket 

Scored 829 runs at 69:08 in 8 games in previous Ranji season

Crossed Brian Lara’s tally of first class hundreds- third only to Sunny & Sachin 

Pujara is fourth on the list of all time double hundred scorer’s in first class cricket - after Don Bradman (37) Hammond (36) Hendren (22)