Watching her father awaken in pain at the Gabba, her mother screaming and taking her eyes off the television, Aditi, the daughter of Cheteshwar Pujara revealed her two-year-old wisdom . “When he comes home, I’ll kiss where he’s hurt, it’ll be fine.”
Sitting at Brisbane airport, with swollen fingers and torso still black and blue after 11 strokes from the Aussie quicks on the final day of the ‘Biggest Test’, Pujara shares what the family did through the gaze of his strongest cricketing career.
Not even 24 hours from the time he and 10 others in the ring threw a punch to avoid and pull the case. Pujara says he could not sleep much as his painful finger and heavy shoulder did not allow him to throw or turn. But it feels calm. Flying home after work is always very therapeutic.
He is deceived by his daughter’s home remedy. “That’s what I do to her when she falls, so she thinks a kiss can heal all wounds,” he says readily.
Cheteshwar Pujara passed a short kick from Australian runners on Day 5 before the ‘young Indians’ dealt a fatal blow to a tired home unit. (BCCI)
Daddy’s little girl is still unaware of the big bad world of MRI scans, X-rays or the swelling pain when a hard cricket ball goes against the flesh. But her father knew about this very early in his life. For someone who, unlike the rest of the world, hadn’t started into the game by turning a bat at a tennis ball, cricket for Pujara was always about tackling that unreliable leather ball. He was not a friend; a little misjudgment and could make your complaint. Pujarat and pain go back long.
No stranger to injury
Over the years, he says, there is not a part of his body that has not been rejected by the missiles aimed at him from 22 yards. His body has sore muscles, torn tendons, damaged joints and broken bones. Meanwhile, Niggles are permanent residents. He has played important test innings with a broken finger – 70 against South Africa in Delhi is one he can remember without much effort.
Both of his lumps have gone down during game time. Athletes regard that as the worst injury. They talk about baby cuckoos dancing around their heads, darkness suddenly gripping their minds with twinkling stars.
That was the only time he got out of the ground. At other times, he has taken deep breaths, reduced the pain and kept going. Never let discomfort appear on your face, it’s something he learned from Arvind’s father, a first-rate hardcore cricketer from days without a helmet. Archers, old-timers say, can use a grimace for fear and can burn them up. Why give those men an inch?
No pain killers
Just twice during those second marathon innings, Pujara let the world know that he was seriously injured. The rest of the time he kept to his old habit – deep breathing, the big gulp, a small walk, a look at the bowler, back to the crease, marking the guard and ready to face the next member.
“From my early days, it is not my habit to kill pain. That is why my threshold for carrying pain is very high. You play for so long, you get used to being beaten, ”said the player, for the second straight series in Australia, nearly 1,000 members in four Tests. From Rajkot, Arvind says that he once heard from his friend a doctor that pain killers make up your mind and delay healing. Pujara Jr. was around, heard it and, like many things related to his game, this also got rooted in his mind. “It’s only if the doctors ask him to take a painkiller,” says Arvind.
Body on line
Both father and son say Brisbane was a very unusual game. Pujara has a defense to avoid physical injury through short balls. He climbs on toes, rides the kick, releases his grip and drops the dead ball to his feet. He also ducks, walks away or gets into the ball line. Pujara says the Gabba had different affairs. The position of the pitch, the plan of the game and the position of the game forced his body to line up.
“I got the majority from one end and that too against (Pat) Cummins. This crack was on the pitch around the short spot where the ball would just go. Cummins has the skill to pick the ball up from there and make you follow it. In case I raised my hand to protect it, I was in danger of yelling at the ball. Considering the setting of the game and how we couldn’t lose wickets, I decided to let the ball hit my body, ”he says.
The other option was to counter the short ball with a flat bat but the triangle of foot, short and deep square made it a threat. On the last visit, he had fallen playing a draw. Brisbane was too valuable; Pujara cricket was not influenced by ego or bravado.
Cheteshwar Pujara says the 2020-21 trip was as satisfying as 2018-19. “At the time it was the first win in Australia but this one is very special.” (Source: AP)
So he would get a blow to the shoulder, the ribs, the back and the chest. The ones that wouldn’t bother rubbing. When they hit the back of the helmet, the neck guard or when the scene became metal, the doctors ran to the field as part of the concussion protocol.
However, the most hurting thing was when he could no longer push down the pain and let out a loud groan when he was injured on the injured finger about early. At his house, Pujara Senior had a hand in front of him. “We were all worried to see him jump around in the shower and stoop to the ground. I thought he might have to go in and finish the guts, ”he says.
It wouldn’t have been that bad but Pujara’s game suffered after that injury. Being too dominant, the blow to the right affected his performance. “It’s hard to hold the bat, the grip was a little loose. So you can’t hit the ball where you want, ”says Pujara about the hardest time of the 50 slowest in his career.
While unable to match his run since last time, Pujara says the 2020-21 trip was as satisfying as 2018-19. “At the time it was the first win in Australia but this one is very special,” he said.
Confidence is respectful
Like last time, Pujara leaves the Aussie shores as a hero. He is once again accepted as a Test cricket liberator, the reason why people fall in love with the longest-running game again. The Australians praise him; they name it ‘F @ # * @ # g Legend’. The Gujarati media is taking the same honor back home – Saurashtra ko Saavaj (Saurashtra Lion).
It even encourages WhatsApp jokes and memes. “Pujara bats from 1pm to 4pm in Australia. Now don’t say that those from Rajkot can’t do without a siesta ”- this one quickly spreads to Gujarati groups. The photoshopped image of a huge rock surrounded by close-knit Aussie rangers is also waiting on Twitter. That chatter about a run rate has stopped, for now. Pujara says it doesn’t matter. It is his custom to be caught between a large rock and a hard place. But he has survived, he has a high pain threshold.