I would love to be known as a Test player in my next life: Cheteshwar Pujara

If there’s one batsman, who has created a relatively unexpected headache for Australia, it’s “The New Wall of India” Cheteshwar Pujara. The right-hander is having the time of his life Down Under, having scored 521 runs at an average of 74.72, with three centuries in the ongoing Test series. Pujara pledged his loyalty to Test cricket by saying that he would still play the longer format in his next life.

The batsman from Saurashtra has been a thorn for Australia by bailing the tourists out of precarious situations. The latest of his three centuries came in Sydney in the ongoing Test when he scored 193. By nearly scoring a double hundred, the 30-year old joined an aristocratic list of being the fifth batsman to have faced 1000 deliveries Down Under in the longer format. The other names in the list are Rahul Dravid, Sunil Gavaskar, Vijay Hazare, and Virat Kohli.

Pujara affirmed his love for Test cricket by saying that he would like to play red-ball cricket in next life if it is still in place. The 30-year old said that Test cricket is earmarked as an ultimate challenge in the game and it is the only format where your character and temperament thrives as a cricketer unlike in T20s

“Not really, I would still love to play Test cricket even in my next life, if Test cricket is going on. If I have an opportunity, I would love to play Test cricket because that is the ultimate challenge I would say. In a T20 game, you can get away with so many things but when it comes to your character, when it comes to your temperament, so many things which you can describe as a cricketer can only happen in Test cricket. So even in my next life I would prefer to be called as a Test player.” Pujara said as quoted by  BCCI.TV

Pujara is known as the “White Walker” by his teammates

Unlike most of the modern batsmen, Pujara is known as being gritty and unexpressive by not showing his emotions, even in the events of enduring hardships or pain. For this reason, his fellow countrymen have hailed him as a “White Walker” from Game of Thrones whenever he walks out with the bat.

“I think R Ashwin and Basu sir came up with that. Some guys also came up with “Winter in Coming” instead of “Winter is Coming” they’ve started saying ‘Pujara is coming’. It is a bit of a funny way to acknowledge what I’ve done, obviousl,y this is a fun part where players are trying to make fun and at the same time enjoy what I’ve been doing.”

Here’s the video of his entire interview

The other side of Cheteshwar Pujara 😎

From Game of Thrones references, an open challenge to beat him in table tennis to the silliest way he’s gotten out till date – we catch @cheteshwar1 in a never seen before avatar – by @28anand

▶️▶️https://t.co/XEWDTdjWnB pic.twitter.com/2okHsZxyJe

— BCCI (@BCCI) January 4, 2019

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