Rohit Sharma and Cheteshwar Pujara went down the memory lane recalling their childhood playing together. After his retirement from Test cricket last month, Rohit is still an active Indian cricketer in ODIs, having retired from the T20 format too last year. Pujara, however, was more of a Test player throughout his career, but he played for India the last time in 2023. At the launch of ‘The Diary of a Cricketer’s Wife’, written by Pujara’s wife Puja, Rohit and Pujara shared some untold stories from the field.
Rohit and Pujara Fought Over Fielding Positions
Rohit shared how he and Pujara used to fight over who would stand at places like short leg and silly point.
“We fought amongst each other, who will take the short leg, who will take the silly point,” Rohit chuckled.
“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.”
Pujara Show Gratitude Towards Parents’ Sacrifices
Both Rohit and Pujara remembered how hard their parents worked to promote 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.
