Cheteshwar Pujara is a household name in Indian cricket. He has made a name for himself as a Test match specialist due to his patient knocks and resilience even against the fiercest attacks in the world.
Currently, Pujara is not playing for any team in the IPL but is playing in the English County Championship.
Why is Cheteswar Pujara playing county cricket?
Over the years, Pujara has been regularly joining an English county team during the IPL.
In 2014, he signed for Derbyshire and in the current season he is playing for Sussex.
In fact, his absence in the 2022 IPL turned out to be a blessing in disguise for the batsman as he scored plenty of runs in England which helped him make a comeback in the Indian test team against England.
On Friday, Pujara played a gritty innings of 115 off 163 deliveries which helped Sussex reach 332/9 at stumps after struggling at 91/4.
Magical 🧙♂️
— Sussex Cricket (@SussexCCC) April 7, 2023
💯 @cheteshwar1 pic.twitter.com/nZ1J3cxnit
India is set to be playing in the World Test Championship (WTC) against Australia at The Oval, London, England, from June 7 and Pujara will hope the Sussex stint will help him prepare for that big game.
Which IPL teams has Pujara played for?
He was picked by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in 2010 and after playing for a season he joined Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). He spent three seasons with Virat Kohli and co. before switching allegiance to then Kings XI Punjab, now rechristened as Punjab Kings in 2014.
However, Pujara has not been playing in this season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and instead made headlines for scoring a century with Sussex in the English county against Durham on April 7. TSN tells you why has he not featured in this edition of IPL?
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Why Cheteswar Pujara is not playing in the 2023 IPL?
To be able to be auctioned in the IPL a player has to register himself for the tournament. However, Pujara did not register himself for the IPL auctions.
Pujara did not play a single match since 2014 and went unsold from 2015 to 2020, before being picked by Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in 2021 for his base price of Rs 50 lacs. However, he did not get to make a single appearance in that edition of IPL before it was suspended indefinitely by the BCCI due to a rise in the number of Covid-19 cases inside the IPL bio-bubble.
"It was tough. It was never easy to be left out and go unsold in the IPL. It hurt me. But that is something which I cannot control. After a point I realised that I'll try and focus on the things, which I can control and I kept working on getting better towards the shorter formats," said Pujara during an interview with 'Mind Matters'.
What is Cheteswar Pujara's IPL record?
Pujara has made 30 appearances in the IPL scoring 390 runs at an average of 20.53 with a strike rate of 99.74.
He has one 50 to his name which he scored for RCB in 2013.
| Year | Matches | Runs | Highest | Average | Strike Rate |
| 2010 | 10 | 122 | 45* | 30.50 | 106.08 |
| 2011 | 7 | 34 | 25 | 11.33 | 109.67 |
| 2012 | 3 | 17 | 11 | 5.66 | 77.27 |
| 2013 | 4 | 92 | 51 | 23.00 | 92.92 |
| 2014 | 6 | 125 | 40* | 25.00 | 100.80 |
| Total | 30 | 390 | N/A | 20.53 | 99.74 |
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