Before February 16, 2023, the list of Indian cricketers playing over a hundred Test matches stood at 12. On Friday, February 17, the exclusive club will have a new and its 13th entrant in top-order batter Cheteshwar Pujara when India takes the field for the second Border-Gavaskar Trophy match against Australia at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.

In a way, entering this exclusive club will be a life-coming-full-circle moment for Pujara. He had made his Test debut coincidentally in the second Border-Gavaskar Trophy match against Australia at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru in October 2010, making 72 in a successful chase of 207 where he came ahead of Rahul Dravid.

In these 13 years of Playing Test cricket, Pujara has managed to keep himself relevant in a fast-paced era through sheer perseverance, following his style and calling consistently, to be now on the verge of clocking a century of Test match appearances for India. His father and first coach Arvind firmly believes Cheteshwar going to play his 100th Test is a saubhagya attained by doing tons of tapasya.

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“This is a great occasion. For playing in a hundred Test matches, there are so many factors involved like fitness and diet as well as the never-ending excitement of playing the game. For example, in diet, if you like ice cream or shrikhand a lot, you cannot eat beyond the limit as you have to play cricket and your reflexes have to be good. I want to say that you have to be in control of all things.”

“When all of that comes (together), then (only) a player is able to play 100 Tests. It is a moment of Saubhagya (very good fortune) for all of us. He had an interest in cricket since childhood and has always liked playing the game. His interest in the game is by heart. Playing for a long time is the essence of his game. It is not an easy thing as one has to do a lot of tapasya (penance). Plus, there are so many aspects involved, like emotional ones too. If you see it from our perspective, then I would say it is a reward of tapasya,” he said.

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