I was disappointed that I was not picked by Gujarat Lions in IPL: Cheteshwar Pujara

India’s batting mainstay Cheteshwar Pujara is all set to make a comeback in the Indian Premier League (IPL) after a long wait of seven years as the auctions for the upcoming 2021 edition of the T20 Championship saw the right-hander getting picked by three-time champion Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at his base price of INR 50 lakhs.

Pujara’s IPL career had commenced in 2010 after he was picked by franchise Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). The batsman then played for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) for three seasons from 2011 to 2013 followed by his stint for Punjab Kings in the 2014 edition. 

Since 2014, the 33-year-old registered for auction many times but could never find a potential buyer for himself. In his short IPL career, Pujara has featured in 30 matches thus far scoring 390 runs at an average of 20.5 and strike rate of 99.7. Reflecting on his IPL journey the Saurashtra-born revealed that he was disappointed over not being picked by the Gujarat Lions team during the 2016 and 2017 IPL seasons.

Gujarat Lions was added in IPL for two editions and had Cheteshwar Pujara’s hometown Rajkot as their base city. However, the right-hander could never play IPL at his hometown as he went unsold in both 2016 and 2017 auctions.

Speaking about the same, Pujara told Cricbuzz, “Well, I was disappointed that I was not picked. But that was not in my control. It would have been nice if I was part of that side. That is in the past and I have moved on,” 

Cheteshwar Pujara opens up on his last outing in IPL 

Pujara’s last outing in the Indian Premier League had come against the Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Wankhede Stadium in IPL 2014 where he scored an 18-ball 19 before getting out to Corey Anderson. 

When asked if he remembered his last IPL game, the 33-year-old replied: “It’s been long for sure. I was the last part of Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings). My last game, I think, was against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede in 2014. To make a comeback to the IPL means a lot to me. It is the best league in the world and I have missed out on being part of it for quite some time.”