"This is my..."- Cheteshwar Pujara drops bombshell reason for international retirement ahead of Ranji Trophy 2025-26

subhradeep-choudhury — Sun, 24 Aug 2025 18:08:02 GMT

Cheteshwar Pujara drops bombshell reason for international retirement.

On the morning of August 24, Cheteshwar Pujara joined the successful Test members of the Indian side, Ravichandran Ashwin, Virat Kohli, and Rohit Sharma, to hang up his shoes in the longest format in the span of a year. After being ignored by the national selectors for more than two years since his last red-ball clash against Australia in the WTC 2023, he decided to make his call.

Pujara finished as India’s eighth leading run-getter of the five-day format of the game as the right-handed batter smashed 7195 runs in 103 games at an average of 43.60, thanks to 19 centuries to his name. He finished in the list of most runs just behind the former captain, Sourav Ganguly, and ahead of Dilip Vengsarkar.

“This was my personal call, and I decided that this is the right time, and I think the young players should get an opportunity in domestic cricket. Earlier, I thought I might play the Ranji season, but then I thought if a younger player got an opportunity, they would be groomed early, so this was my personal call.” Pujara expressed during an exclusive interview on Sports Tak.

Cheteshwar Pujara makes massive revelation on international retirement

Among some of the superb centuries in the longest format for Pujara, the one that stands out will be the one he celebrated in Adelaide during the BGT 2018/19 when the tourist lost four wickets for around 40 runs on the board. His Colombo century was equally important, along with the 56 at the Gabba in 2021 down under.

“In 2018, the team won a series on Australian soil for the first time — that was a memorable moment for me. Then in 2021, they won the Test series again. Both of those series are very special to me.” The Rajkot-born added during the interaction.

Apart from his international heroics, the right-handed batter smacked 21301 first-class runs in 457 innings at an average of 51.82, with the help of 66 centuries and 81 half-centuries at the best score of 352 runs. He will be available for the Saurashtra side during the upcoming Ranji Trophy 2025-26.