Cheteshwar Pujara | Photo Credit: Murali Kumar’s
The memoir by the star cricketers of India clearly documented its roller-coaster trips, not all common. Rarer is still a perspective of their female partners, often described as Wags (wives and girlfriends), about their lives. Whenever the Indian team is in action, television cameras are zoomed on their face at various important junctions-it can reach a milestone from a player, which is dismissed for the duck of the first ball-to find their emotional and easy reactions.
Book cover | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
But beyond these fleeting moments of unwanted meditation, it really likes to be with someone whose job fulfills the sky-high expectations of a population who treats her cricketers like her cricketers? What is it to participate in the high and weak climbing climbing ups, from their superstar partners game to game? How do they feel when they want to face wide world wrath to go through a bad patches for their husbands?
Cheteshwar Pujara during a net practice session last month. Photo Credit: Vijay Sonji
Pooja Pujara, wife of former India Test No. 3 Cheteshwar Pujara, has clearly chronic her experiences in a new book. Diary of a cricketer’s wife (published byHarper Collins India)
The idea of Pooja was dropping this book down, to carry the tag line of “a very unusual memoir”, a few days after the 2023 World Test Championship Final was proposed by his frugal partner that India lost to Australia. After the defeat, Cheteshwar, who was 35 years old, received an unpleasant call from the chief selector in which he was informed that he was not moving forward in India’s plans. Even as a person from Rajkot, who added a strong technique with abundant patience to submit 7,195 runs in 103 tests, interacted on the chin, Pooja was angry with anger about her husband. It was a feeling, as Pooja writes in the book, which had come inside her for a long time.
A family picture from 2021 | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Even Pooja was motivated to broke the subject of retirement with Cheteshwar. His response, mentioning in the book Pooja, was expressed peace. “According to me, my body and mind, my alertness is at their peak. I am on peace, whether I have been chosen or not. I don’t think a game can define someone’s form. Also, whenever I get an opportunity, I am happy to play the game, because it is something that I like,” he quotes as “he is demanding 318-positions.
Cheteshwar Pujara in action during the 4th and final Test match between India and Australia in 2023. Photo Credit: Vijay Sonji
Almost two years have passed since Cheteshwar’s brilliant Test career. Remembering this, Pooja, sitting with her husband in a virtual conversation, said: “It was difficult at that time. I was very honest about my feelings. It hurt me a lot, and took some time to recover. But he advised me that we could not do anything about those things that are not in our hands.
For the outside world, these players live a great life: traveling around the world, staying in luxurious hotels and enjoying all other allowances coming as an Indian cricketer. All this may be accurate, but it should not snatch the sacrifices of their family members who help them reach the peak of their profession. Cheteshwar hopes that such a book will create a little more understanding and sympathy among fans about his life.
“Surely I think it will happen,” he said. “Every cricketer has his own journey. But at the same time when we are talking about privacy or the kind of sacrifice for a cricketer for a family, it is mostly common. I don’t think no player succeeds without the support of the family.”
Pooja Pujara (left) in an earlier match
For example, the book about Cheteshwar’s father, Arvind, has a route, suffering from Tachycardia-a situation where the heart beats faster than normal-2018-19-In Australia in Australia in Australia, at home at home at home at 2.30 pm from India’s second Test of the four-match series in Australia. With not traveling under the puja, she was able to take her father -in -law to a hospital without keeping Cheteshwar in the loop about the incident. Even when the doctors recommended a heart termination process for Senior Pujara in Mumbai, he waited for that test in Perth before Cheteshwar was relaying the news. He took all this in his strid, still left with two tests and directed India to win a series in Australia for the first time-that ended as the highest run-goldter-a will for his character.
In his 13 -year Test career, Cheteshwar made several important partnerships with his comrades. By the end of the book, it is clear that his permanent off-field partnership with Pooja has been equally important.
At a price of ₹ 425, the book is available on amazon.in
Published – May 14, 2025 04:52 pm IST
