‘Wanted me dropped’: Cheteshwar Pujara overheard omission talks amid injury and father’s emergency, says wife | Cricket News – The Times of India

Cheteshwar Pujara’s wife, Puja Pujara, has revealed in her ebook ‘The Diary of a Cricketer’s Wife’ that her husband overheard discussions about dropping him from the Melbourne Test throughout India’s 2018-19 tour of Australia, regardless of his robust efficiency within the sequence opener and coping with each a hamstring injury and his father’s medical emergency.
Pujara had began the sequence strongly with a century and half-century in Adelaide, serving to India take a 1-0 lead within the 4-match sequence. However, he developed a hamstring injury earlier than the second Test in Perth.

During this era, Pujara’s father, Arvind, suffered a fall and wanted fast hospitalization, requiring an emergency coronary heart process. Despite these private challenges, Pujara stored his father’s situation non-public from the workforce.

The Perth Test proved troublesome for Pujara, who managed solely 28 runs throughout each innings as India misplaced by 146 runs. The interval between the second and third Tests was significantly difficult for him.
Puja revealed that whereas resting his injured hamstring, Pujara by accident overheard a dialog about his potential exclusion from the workforce.
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“Cheteshwar made the most of his three-day break and did not step out of his room much. He alternated between resting his afflicted limb and getting his strained hamstring treated. On the lone occasion when he did, he overheard someone engaged in an intense conversation on the telephone, stating that he did not want my husband to play in the coming match because he was unfit. It was an unpleasant incident. But Cheteshwar gave no sign that he had accidentally become privy to the said exchange. Neither did he tell anyone about Papa’s medical condition,” Puja wrote in her ebook.
The incident solely got here to gentle a lot later throughout a dialog about birthday needs on social media.
“I only learnt of the incident accidentally on Cheteshwar’s birthday after the tour was over. It was around half-past-two in the afternoon, the lights were off and the room was quite dark. Aditi was napping and Cheteshwar and I were reclining on our bed as I scrolled through our social media pages reading out birthday greetings. One message posted on Instagram was particularly effusive and touching. I read it out aloud to Cheteshwar, remarking, ‘Such a sweet gesture—what a lovely message!’ There was complete silence. He did not say a word. Puzzled, I looked up from my phone and caught a most peculiar expression on Cheteshwar’s face—one that was simultaneously secretive and pitying. I had no trouble translating his mind — it was his vintage you’re-so-naïve-and-trusting look I had seen it before and was therefore quite familiar with it.”

Puja persevered in questioning her husband about his response, resulting in a revealing dialog.
“What’s wrong,’ I asked. ‘Nothing,’ he said, at his taciturn best. But I was not buying it. I knew quite well that when Cheteshwar went completely quiet, it usually meant he was concealing something. It was a frequent occurrence. I usually learnt of on-field gossip and politics from other players’ wives, never from him. Throughout my marriage, Cheteshwar’s description of his various trips had been limited to three unvarying sentences: ‘We had practice, a team meeting and then I returned to the room.’ Day in and day out, year after year, I had been treated to the same standard lines. He was ready to talk about everything but his professional life. There were times when I would wonder if he even knew what was happening in the world around him.”
Finally, Pujara revealed the reality in regards to the social media message.
“‘This guy you’re praising,’ commented Cheteshwar laconically, ‘wanted me to be dropped from the team because of fitness issues.’ I gaped at him. ‘Why didn’t you tell me earlier? Why did you go through it alone?’ ‘Such things happen,’ he shrugged, ‘and not everything deserves a reaction. I played and played well and that’s what matters. You don’t need to dwell too much on the incident. But it’s important that you learn not to trust everything that takes place on social media.'”
Despite these challenges, Pujara went on to be named Player of the Series as India secured their first away Test sequence victory on Australian soil.