Pujara is a whitewalker, his contributions are no less than Kohli and Rohit: R Ashwin

Former India all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin feels Cheteshwar Pujara never got the limelight despite making similar contributions to Indian cricket like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. Pujara recently announced his retirement from Tests after last playing for the country back in 2023. He ended his career with 103 matches, having scored 7195 runs at an average of 43.60 with 19 centuries and 35 fifties to his name.

Pujara was seen as a true successor of the legendary batter Rahul Dravid, and he lived up to the hype on several occasions by being a rock at the crease. Recently, R Ashwin recalled Pujara’s illustrious career and said that his contributions were often overshadowed, but he helped Virat Kohli score a lot of his runs.

“What did Cheteshwar Pujara stand for in Indian cricket? I said his contributions are no less than Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. Obviously, a lot of people talk about their contributions. The attention is not there. Not every cricketer gets the attention, but that does not mean their contribution is any less. Pujara's contribution at No.3, believe it or not, was instrumental in helping Virat Kohli also make a lot of his runs,” Ashwin said on his Youtube Channel.

Kohli and Pujara were involved in several memorable partnerships in their career, scoring 3513 runs together at the crease from 83 innings at an average of 43.37 with seven hundreds and 18 fifties. Their most memorable stand came against England in Visakhapatnam, 2016, when the duo added 226 runs for the third wicket.

Furthermore, Ashwin compared Pujara to ‘Whitewalker’ a famous character in the TV series, Game of Thrones.

“The cricket-loving public definitely knows the contribution of Cheteshwar Pujara. If you guys have seen Game of Thrones, there is a character of a white walker. I termed Pujara a white walker. He walks slowly but never leaves the field,” said Ashwin.

Pujara last played in the World Test Championship 2023 final against Australia and was dropped immediately after India lost the game by 209 runs. He was never picked again despite scoring heavily in the 2023-24 domestic season, even as India faced England at home without Virat Kohli in February-March 2024.