Rohit Sharma and Cheteshwar Pujara went down the memory lane, reminiscing their early days playing together. Following his retirement from Test cricket last month, Rohit remains an active cricketer for India in ODIs, having also stepped down from the T20 format last year. Pujara, on the other hand, has been more of a Test specialist all his life, but he last played for India in 2023. During the launch of ‘The Diary of a Cricketer’s Wife’, penned by Pujara’s better half Puja, Rohit and Pujara revealed some unheard tales from the field.
Rohit recalled how he and Pujara would fight over who would field at spots like short leg and silly point.
“We foght amongst each other, who will take the short leg, who will take the silly point,” Rohit chuckled.
“and Pujji [Pujara] used to be like ‘I’m No.3, so I need to rest more than you’. So you take that because I used to bat at No.5 and 6. And then we decided among us…”
“But it turned around later when he started opening in Tests. Then he said, ‘Now I’m the opener, so you go stand at short leg!’ I had no answer – I just went.”
Both Pujara and Rohit recalled the struggles made by their parents to support their careers.
Pujara said, “I lost my mom and I was 17. But the kind of support my parents gave me when I was young and to relive those moments, because she (Puja) has described this thing really, really well.” “I still remember from my mother’s advice that what you do in your life, and she was very confident that I’ll end up playing for the country, she told me that you have to be a good human being first.” Rohit said, “Since the day I was born to now, the support of my mother and father has been immense. I know the sacrifices they’ve made for me and my brother to do what we needed to do in our lives.
“But when you sit back and think about it, you really appreciate, you know what the parents go through. When you’re at that age, you don’t realise, but now, when I sit back and think about it, you understand,” he said.
