Pujara's wife shares close encounters of a top cricketer's life in her book

Puja Pujara, wife of Cheteshwar – the rock of India’s Test middle order till the other day, has authored a book: The Diary of a Cricketer’s Wife in a rare attempt from the spouses of one of the country’s leading cricketers.

Sharing photos of the couple with copies of the book on his X handle, Pujara wrote: ‘’While I have been blessed to have a lot of you follow my cricketing journey over the years, this book provides a unique lens through the eyes of someone who has seen the ups and downs of my career from close quarters.’’ The man who took over No.3 position after Rahul Dravid last played a Test in 2023 and is now a TV pundit.

 In an excerpt released in a leading English daily, a chapter deals with how ‘someone’ in the Indian dressing room wanted Pujara dropped during the 2018-19 Australia tour due to fitness issues. Incidentally, Pujara’s defiant batting efforts were one of the key factors behind India sealing back-to-back series triumphs Down Under in 2018-19 and 2020-21.

The revelation comes as Puja narrates how on the tour Cheteshwar overheard a conversation about his place in the team being questioned after his modest 28 runs in the Perth Test, which India lost. The batter had picked up a light hamstring injury while off-the-field, his father Arvind was admitted to the hospital back home.

Puja wrote how she didn’t get to know about the incident after the tour was over on 25 January, the cricketer’s birthday. The person concerned had put a message wishing the batter, which Puja praised and was met with silence from the Indian Test number three.

“This guy you’re praising,’’ commented Cheteshwar after much persuasion from his wife, ‘’wanted me to be dropped from the team because of fitness issues.’’ I gaped at him. ‘Why didn’t you tell me earlier? Why did you go through it alone?’ ‘’Such things happen,’’ he shrugged, ‘’and not everything deserves a reaction. I played and played well and that’s what matters. You don’t need to dwell too much on the incident. But it’s important that you learn not to trust everything that takes place on social media’,’’ she wrote.

Pujara went on to score back-to-back centuries in the next two matches and the rest – as they say - is history.

Well known examples of cricketer’s wives turning into published authors are few and far between like Deborah Kirsten, wife of former South Africa opener and India coach Gary Kirsten, whose book shares the same name: The Diary of a Cricketer’s Wife. Frances Edmonds, wife of former England spinner, was a successful author with books like Another Bloody Tour; Members only; Winning the Game of Life.