'That's my job...'- Cheteshwar Pujara responds to Virat Kohli's compliment on international retirement

India’s recently retired top-order batter, Cheteshwar Pujara, who recently decided to retire from international cricket and still kept himself available for the upcoming Ranji Trophy 2025/26 season for Saurashtra, has responded to the compliment of the former Indian captain, Virat Kohli.

Kohli was late in wishing Pujara’s international career for India when he shed light on the right-handed batter’s comment on how the number three batter made life easy for the Delhi-born to go through his process at number four. “Thank you for making my job easier at 4 pujji. You’ve had an amazing career. Congratulations and wish you the best for what’s ahead. God bless @cheteshwar_pujara.” Kohli wrote on Instagram.

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“It's a nice compliment from Virat. He's a great player, and if he's saying that I've made his life easier, I'm really proud because if you're a top-order batsman, your job is to ensure that the rest of the batters who bat at number 4, 5, 6, you make their life easier. That's my job.” Pujara expressed during a recent interaction.

Cheteshwar Pujara responds to Virat Kohli’s wish on international retirement

Pujara finished his red-ball career as the eighth leading run-getter of the Blue Brigade with the help of 7195 runs in 176 innings at an average of 43.60, thanks to 19 centuries and 35 half-centuries at the best score of 206*. In FC cricket, the veteran has grabbed 21301 runs at an average of 51.82 with 66 centuries and 81 fifties.

During India’s first red-ball series win against Australia down under during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2018/19, Pujara contributed with over 500 runs in four games, where he faced over 1200 deliveries for the six-week campaign, as the opponent bowling line-up was frustrated by the end of the series.

Kohli and Pujara compiled 3513 runs in 83 innings of the longest format, registering seven century partnerships and eight half-century stands at an average of 43.37. In the last eight months, India has lost several Test players, including Ravichandran Ashwin and Rohit Sharma. A few could also decide on a new future as the Test side is slowly moving into the transition.