India batsman Cheteshwar Pujara has been awarded the prestigious Arjuna award, five years after being nominated for it. Due to his cricketing commitments, Pujara was unable to attend the awards ceremony in 2017. At a handover ceremony here on Saturday, he finally received the trophy.
“Thankful to @IndiaSports @BCCI and @ianuragthakur to organise and handover the Arjuna Award belatedly, which I could not collect the year it was awarded to me due to my cricket commitments. Honoured and grateful,” he tweeted after getting the award from Sports Minister Anurag Thakur.
Thankful to @IndiaSports, @BCCI and @ianuragthakur to organise and handover the Arjuna Award belatedly, which I could not collect the year it was awarded to me due to my cricket commitments. Honoured and grateful🙏 pic.twitter.com/Dokz4ZP3Hs
— Cheteshwar Pujara (@cheteshwar1) November 19, 2022
Pujara, who represents Saurashtra in domestic cricket, is in the national capital for the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
He will be a citizen of India. A squad that will travel to Bangladesh ahead of the two-Test series there next month.
Pujara, a 96-Test veteran, had made a comeback into the Indian team following outstanding performances in county cricket.
Cheteshwar Arvind Pujara was a Test cricketer for India and a domestic cricketer for Saurashtra. He is a right-handed batsman who made his first-class debut for Saurashtra in December 2005 and his Test debut in October 2010 in Bangalore. According to the ICC Player Rankings, he is the world No.14 Test batsman as of May 9, 2021, with a total of 697 points. He also appeared in 5 One-Day Internationals for India.
He was a member of the India A team that toured England in the summer of 2010 and was the tour’s leading scorer. The BCCI awarded him a D grade national contract in October 2011. He was one of the contenders for a spot in the Indian middle order after the retirement of Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman and was a member of the IPL 2021 winning team Chennai Super Kings. He is known to have a sound technique and the temperament required to play long innings.
