The Count ends - Pujara retires from all format of cricket

[vvvslaxman]

3 minutes ago, Trichromatic said:

 

I did same thing. Searched for threads on home page and created new one.

Count is not as popular as Wall, King, Thala etc. 

[Trichromatic]

1 hour ago, AuxiliA said:

His greatest innings was 123 in Adelaide in 2018 when he single handedly rescued us from 40/4 to a decent total and again made 70odd in the 2nd inng to get us the win and setup our 1st series victory in Aus. 

 

That effort was even better than Dravid's Adelaide 2003 performance. 

 

 

He went full on attack mode smashing sixes in that inning at one point. 

[Trichromatic]

Lowest point of his career was time when he was getting lot of criticism for intent and was dropped because of that.

 

Peak was 2018 BGT.

[nevada]

Feeling sad though this announcement is a mere formality. I will fondly remember his heroic deeds in back to back BGT tours, which is the toughest assignment and considered the biggest achievement by most international cricketers and fans alike. He literally put his body on the line copping one painful blow after another to help his team win! 

 

Was a beast at home in his prime, scoring big and wearing out the opposition. He was the new wall and the lynch pin of our test batting line-up. His last couple of years were terrible, but so were they for all his peers in the lineup. 

 

 

[rkt.india]

3 hours ago, Trichromatic said:

 

Kohli, Pujara, Rahane all ended with much worse numbers due to pitches prepared from 2019-2024

At least 5 points lower than it should have been. Kohli could have ended with 50-51, pujara 47-48, rahane 42-43.

[Trichromatic]

Just now, rkt.india said:

At least 5 points lower than it should have been. Kohli could have ended with 50-51, pujara 47-48, rahane 42-43.

 

Easily. I think even Pujara was better than 47 avg.

 

He had scored early centuries in SA, Aus, scored in Eng eventually, was scoring big at home.

 

Scored 2 double centuries in first 2 years of his career and 1 in next 10 years. He was scoring big in Ranji even when he was out of form.

 

Kohli will score centuries on flat pitches.

 

Playing on sub-standard pitches hurt their career and confidence both and that was reflected in their away performances also. BCCI was doing well with good pitches till mid 2019, occasionally throwing tough tracks in 2015 SA series, 2017 BGT. 2020-2024 was horrible phase.

[nevada]

1 minute ago, Trichromatic said:

 

Easily. I think even Pujara was better than 47 avg.

 

He had scored early centuries in SA, Aus, scored in Eng eventually, was scoring big at home.

 

Scored 2 double centuries in first 2 years of his career and 1 in next 10 years. He was scoring big in Ranji even when he was out of form.

 

Kohli will score centuries on flat pitches.

 

Playing on sub-standard pitches hurt their career and confidence both and that was reflected in their away performances also. BCCI was doing well with good pitches till mid 2019, occasionally throwing tough tracks in 2015 SA series, 2017 BGT. 2020-2024 was horrible phase.

The flawed WTC and the quest for cheap ranking points is the root of the problem. 

[G_B_]

Served indian cricket well.

 

Will be remembered

[Gollum]

1 hour ago, rkt.india said:

At least 5 points lower than it should have been. Kohli could have ended with 50-51, pujara 47-48, rahane 42-43.

 

1 hour ago, Trichromatic said:

 

Easily. I think even Pujara was better than 47 avg.

 

He had scored early centuries in SA, Aus, scored in Eng eventually, was scoring big at home.

 

Scored 2 double centuries in first 2 years of his career and 1 in next 10 years. He was scoring big in Ranji even when he was out of form.

 

Kohli will score centuries on flat pitches.

 

Playing on sub-standard pitches hurt their career and confidence both and that was reflected in their away performances also. BCCI was doing well with good pitches till mid 2019, occasionally throwing tough tracks in 2015 SA series, 2017 BGT. 2020-2024 was horrible phase.

Also, we stopped playing the weaker teams, especially post pandemic. 2 tests against SL in last 8 years, 2 against WI in last 7 years, none against Zim/Ire/Afg etc. 50+ average very tough just playing against SENA all the time, and even SENA (except Bazball Poms) doctor their home pitches to favor bat over ball. Remove BD, Zim and even Sachin's average drops to 51, Dravid to 49, and 2000s was an easy batting decade....90s Lanka also had garbage bowling attack and pattas. 

 

If you remove SL, WI, Ireland, Zim, even Root's average is below 50. And he feasted on Pak's minnow attack for last 10 years. Don't even get me started on Kane mama, if you remove minnows and depleted RSA team that toured NZ last cycle, his average drops to 43-44.

 

Also remember we don't play Pooks who are a minnow bowling attack and mostly serve pattas for their home tests. All other teams have statpadded like crazy aganst them, even 31 averaging Crawley. Brook can't play spin but has 4 100s including a 300 in SC courtesy Pooks. 

 

Jaiswal, Gill, Pant, Sundar will also end up with inferior numbers than lesser players from other countries. 

Edited August 24, 2025 by Gollum

[Majestic]

Let’s see where he is ranked among all the Indian test players since 1970:-

 

Tendulkar

Gavaskar

Dravid

Bumrah

Kapil

 

Jadeja

Ashwin

Sehwag

kumble

Laxman

 

Vishwanath

Shami

Pujara

Pant

Bedi/ Chandra

[DeepSpace]

Adios Champion!

[Lord]

6 hours ago, Trichromatic said:

 

Kohli, Pujara, Rahane all ended with much worse numbers due to pitches prepared from 2019-2024

 

That's not a great excuse tbh. Rohit, Axar, Jadeja,Pant etc did fairly well on same pitches

[Lord]

5 hours ago, AuxiliA said:

His greatest innings was 123 in Adelaide in 2018 when he single handedly rescued us from 40/4 to a decent total and again made 70odd in the 2nd inng to get us the win and setup our 1st series victory in Aus. 

 

That effort was even better than Dravid's Adelaide 2003 performance. 

 

 

His 145 in Colombo 2015 is underrated. Opened the innings and batted through on a greentop

[Trichromatic]

13 minutes ago, Lord said:

 

That's not a great excuse tbh. Rohit, Axar, Jadeja,Pant etc did fairly well on same pitches

 

It doesn't work that way.

 

When a batsman hits bit of slump they need bit of good batting tracks and time in middle to regain form especially at home ground where risk of losing is lower. It's difficult to comeback on bowling tracks.

 

Pant, Jadeja and Axar are lower order batsmen who still avg 35-45 not 50+.

 

Sharma was in peak form at that time for couple of years and he wasn't great overseas.

 

We all give credit to Sachin for Sydney 2004 knock. It was great comeback but eventually it was on flattest pitch against avg bowling attack. Entire series was played on flat decks and it took Sachin 4 games to figure it out.

 

While indian team was getting some flat pitches like chennai 2021 v Eng, batsman had no form to capitalise on it.

 

 

[Trichromatic]

2 hours ago, Gollum said:

 

Also, we stopped playing the weaker teams, especially post pandemic. 2 tests against SL in last 8 years, 2 against WI in last 7 years, none against Zim/Ire/Afg etc. 50+ average very tough just playing against SENA all the time, and even SENA (except Bazball Poms) doctor their home pitches to favor bat over ball. Remove BD, Zim and even Sachin's average drops to 51, Dravid to 49, and 2000s was an easy batting decade....90s Lanka also had garbage bowling attack and pattas. 

 

If you remove SL, WI, Ireland, Zim, even Root's average is below 50. And he feasted on Pak's minnow attack for last 10 years. Don't even get me started on Kane mama, if you remove minnows and depleted RSA team that toured NZ last cycle, his average drops to 43-44.

 

Also remember we don't play Pooks who are a minnow bowling attack and mostly serve pattas for their home tests. All other teams have statpadded like crazy aganst them, even 31 averaging Crawley. Brook can't play spin but has 4 100s including a 300 in SC courtesy Pooks. 

 

Jaiswal, Gill, Pant, Sundar will also end up with inferior numbers than lesser players from other countries. 

 

For batsmen I guess runs against even minnows are valuable for batsmen personal form.

 

Most of the batsmen of other countries or 2000s players have boosted avg by averaging 65-80 V minnows.

[Lord]

28 minutes ago, Trichromatic said:

 

It doesn't work that way.

 

When a batsman hits bit of slump they need bit of good batting tracks and time in middle to regain form especially at home ground where risk of losing is lower. It's difficult to comeback on bowling tracks.

 

Pant, Jadeja and Axar are lower order batsmen who still avg 35-45 not 50+.

 

Sharma was in peak form at that time for couple of years and he wasn't great overseas.

 

We all give credit to Sachin for Sydney 2004 knock. It was great comeback but eventually it was on flattest pitch against avg bowling attack. Entire series was played on flat decks and it took Sachin 4 games to figure it out.

 

While indian team was getting some flat pitches like chennai 2021 v Eng, batsman had no form to capitalise on it.

 

 

 

Specialist batsmen are expected to do better than allrounders.

 

If they want to regain form, they can always play Ranjis and county etc. Tests are not for finding form but for playing those who have it.

 

Only great thing about Sachin's knock was control to play no cover drive .Else many innings are rated higher

[BacktoCricaddict]

Great player! Batted through pain and body blows. Stubborn as hell. Good luck with his next career!

[Lord]

Perhaps the last of his kind. Test Cricket is now played in Bazball style

[raki05]

9 hours ago, rkt.india said:

At least 5 points lower than it should have been. Kohli could have ended with 50-51, pujara 47-48, rahane 42-43.

How come smith and root avging so much. Its alll bs their avg 3 reflect what they were.

[Trichromatic]

7 hours ago, Lord said:

 

Specialist batsmen are expected to do better than allrounders.

 

If they want to regain form, they can always play Ranjis and county etc. Tests are not for finding form but for playing those who have it.

 

Only great thing about Sachin's knock was control to play no cover drive .Else many innings are rated higher

 

Pujara was always scoring in Ranjis.

 

Ultimately home games, weak opponents are where players score bulk of their international runs. If those are dried up, then there is very little opportunity to get to top form.