When Cheteshwar Pujara broke into the Indian team, he was considered the heir apparent to ‘The Wall’ Rahul Dravid who would retire in a couple of years’ time. The position fell vacant, and Pujara made it rightfully his when he slammed a double hundred against England in Ahmedabad in 2012. He didn’t look back since then and went from strength to strength.
Pujara first met Dravid when he was still India’s captain. This was 2007 when he came to play a match in Rajkot and that was when he met Dravid for the first time as a wide-eyed fan boy. Several years later, the roles have changed. While Pujara is desperate for a comeback, Dravid is Head Coach.
“Rahul Bhai has always been an inspiration for me. When I first met him in 2007, he was leading the India team. He came to Rajkot. That was my first interaction with him as a young kid,” Pujara said on BCCI.tv.
“After that, I have always been in touch, I have learned so many things from him as a cricketer when I was playing with him and even after he retired and coached India A team, he has always been helpful.”
Pujara was going great guns till 2019, but after this point, his form dipped and he was finally dropped after India’s 2-1 loss in South Africa earlier this year. He forced his way back into the side on the back of a superb run in the English county and Ranji Trophy.
The Saurashtra cricketer would be looking to take all the help he could from Dravid in order to seal the deal.
“He always keeps things simple, he has great ideas about batting, he doesn’t complicate things. It’s always good to learn from him, it’s always good to work with Rahul Bhai. It’s a good environment to be in, even when we played here in 2021, when Ravi (Shastri) Bhai was around, the way the guys played (was fantastic),” he said.
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