Hail 'The Che': Pujara, the man of substance, had body of steel, scored runs of context

Cheteshwar Pujara never had a cover drive like Virat Kohli.

Neither he took your breath away with a falling hook shot like Rishabh Pant nor did he play a short-arm pull with the finesse of Rohit Sharma that could send the fans into raptures.

But in the era of uber-stylish batters, Pujara was that glue that held the Indian batting together for a decade between 2013-14 till 2023 over a period of 100 plus Test matches.

His contribution to Indian cricket is not measured in sixes or strike-rates, but in time, grit, and unyielding defiance against the world's best attacks.

If Virat Kohli was the structure of the beautiful edifice that was Indian Test batting, Cheteshwar Pujara was definitely the foundation.

Those who swore by the virtue of patience that Test cricket always stood for, Pujara was that slice from the bygone days when T20 wasn't even an idea.

An obsessed father Arvind, a small time first-class cricketer with limited means but with big dreams, and a mother, who was a silent rock, made Pujara a man with a tunnel vision.

He never knew the incorrect way of batting, which after the advent of T20 cricket is understandably termed as unconventional. Copybook cricket was like his second skin as father Arvind instilled in him that real cricket was Test cricket.

In fact, the most unconventional character trait about Pujara was that he remained boringly conventional in his philosophy -- both in cricket and in life.

As his wife Puja in her book, "The Diary of a Cricketer's Wife: An unsual Memoir" put it succinctly:

"Cheteshwar Pujara is a man of few words and fewer expressions. If a smile can do the job, he prefers not to speak. If a sentence can end in three words, he will make no attempt to add another."

Hence he became that 'go to' man in the Indian squad, whom you would want on your side when you go to the war.

When Kohli gave the charge, Pujara knew that he had to do.

And when Pant belted Aussie bowlers on a crooked surface, Pujara's mere presence at the other end and copping those eleven body blows on day five at the Gabba en route a 211-ball-56 was everything that he epitomised -- Man of Substance, Body of Steel and Runs of context.

In a team filled with flamboyance, Pujara's scars became his badge of honour.

For Pant's 'tour de force' act at Gabba, you needed a piece de resistance from Pujara.

Through the 1980s and 90s, Rajkot for an average Indian fan was a venue where primarily one dayers were held and the pitch used to be like a shirtfront helping a run-feast.

But Indian Railway employee Arvind Pujara had a dream and that was produce a Test cricketer, who would not merely play but earn his stripes with distinction.

With limited resources, he would travel to Mumbai and meet former India cricketer Karsan Ghavri and seek a second opinion whether he should put all his eggs on one basket to make his son a cricketer.

Ghavri saw the kid bat in one of the Mumbai maidans and gave a go-ahead to Pujara-senior.

It wasn't an easy journey and it became even more difficult when mother Reena lost her battle with cancer even before Pujara grew into an adult.

Imagine what a 17-year-old would go through when he spoke to his mother after playing a district game and informing her that he would reach home by evening. By the time the bus journey ends, the biggest inspiration of his life wasn't there anymore.

Arvind during an interview few years back had told this correspondent that he was really worried when his son didn't even shed a tear for days after his mother passed away.

He had completely internalized the pain. Enduring the pain in personal life made it easier for him to fight fire on the cricket pitch.

A spiritual person, he never believed in celebrations rather a quiet retreat to the confines of the Ashram of his Guruji, seeking his blessings was his way of joy. Pujara has always been like that no frills, no fuss, just matter of fact.

A fast, full ball would be defended right below the eyeline and short and wide one would be ferociously square cut and one on the legs would be either flicked or on-driven as per length.

In the 2018-19 series where he played 1258 deliveries and scored 521 runs. And in his three centuries, one was scored at the MCG when his father was undergoing a heart procedure in Mumbai and he wasn't told about it.

It was the series that made Pujara, one of India's modern Test match greats -- he became an immovable object and stayed rent free on the minds of Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc.

But for someone with 7000 plus runs and 19 hundreds, Pujara remained curiously under-celebrated.

In an era obsessed with strike-rates and IPL franchise contracts and weird celebrations by one-season IPL wonders, Pujara's value system felt almost outdated.

He didn't always fit the image of modern Indian cricketer -- no theatrics, no brand endorsements flooding TV screens, no social media bravado. He simply batted, and batted, and batted for India.