Early setbacks made him mentally tough, says Pujara’s father

By Khurram Habib New Delhi, Jan 21 : India batsman Cheteshwar Pujara’s mental toughness comes from the setbacks he got early in his life and the fact that he understood that only big, long knocks will matter if he has to make an impression from a small centre, says father Arvind Pujara.
The 32-year-old Pujara played a key role in helping India draw the third Test at Sydney and in Australia’s defeat in the fourth and final Test at the Gabba, Brisbane. He faced 928 deliveries in all on this tour with 211 of those coming on the fifth day in Brisbane where he was hit on his body and head multiple times. Often he was seen grimacing in pain.
“He has scored a lot of runs staying at the crease in junior cricket. The more you practice and score runs, the more you get hit on the body. It is part and parcel of the game,” says father Arvind Pujara, recalling a triple century (306) at the age of 13 he made against Baroda in an under-14 match at the Moti Bagh Stadium.
“It was a three-day game. He batted long for 306 runs and then fielded. The more you practice, the more you will get hit by the ball. He got used to it. He has been playing consistently. In junior cricket, he has made 5,000 runs. In that also, you get hit. You don’t get hit this much, but you do. He developed toughness because of that,” Arvind told IANS on Wednesday.
There were other incidents early in life that taught Pujara how to weather storm.
When he was 18, Cheteshwar was returning home in Rajkot after playing a match in Bhavnagar. He reached home to find that his mother was no more.