Being unsold in the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction in February this year has proved to be a boon for Cheteshwar Pujara. On one hand IPL 2022 was going on, on the other hand Cheteshwar Pujara was busy making a mountain of runs for Sussex. His highly successful county season saw him return to the Indian Test squad for the lone remaining fifth match of the series against England at Birmingham in July.
Cheteshwar Pujara told The Indian Express from Paris, ‘Now at the end you can say that if I had been picked by the IPL team, I would have gone to the nets now and practiced. There was a huge possibility that I might not get to play any match. Match practice and practice in the nets are always different. So when it came to the county, I just said yes. The main reason I said yes to the county was because I wanted my old rhythm back. Pujara is currently holidaying in Paris. Cheteshwar Pujara scored 720 (6 not out, 201, 109, 12, 203, 16, 170 not out and 3 runs) at an average of 120 in five County Championship matches in April and May.
Before moving to England, Cheteshwar Pujara was left out of the Indian Test squad for the two-match home Test series against Sri Lanka in March. The selectors had decided to give more chances to young players like Shreyas Iyer. Shreyas Iyer did well in his first Test series against New Zealand last year.
However, Pujara’s name was included when the national senior selection committee gathered on Sunday, 22 May 2022, to pick the squad for the home T20 International against South Africa and the one-off Test against England. However, the selectors did not pick the other experienced batsman Ajinkya Rahane. Ajinkya Rahane had a great start in IPL 2022 for Kolkata Knight Riders.
Cheteshwar Pujara said, ‘There was no doubt that I was positive. The way my county season went, I was hopeful that I would make a comeback in the Indian team. But when I went to play county cricket, there was no return in my mind in the Indian team. I just wanted to find my own rhythm. I knew a big innings would help me regain my momentum.
Pujara said that during his county season he was not only looking for hundreds but was also trying to score 150-plus to get his attention back. Pujara also did this 3 times out of his 7 innings. In this, he remained unbeaten twice.
Cheteshwar Pujara said, ‘I was just trying to find my old form. If you look at my innings in the past, I was getting 80, 90 runs, so I never felt that I was out of form. I was just hoping to score big runs. Big runs don’t mean 100, but 150 plus. Because to get back to a normal concentration level, I needed those big scores. I found it in England. I found my rhythm and as I scored runs, things started to settle down.