Over the years, Pujara became an able replacement to Rahul Dravid at no.3, adept at seeing off the new ball through his disciplined batting. He scored hundreds in India, Australia, Bangladesh, England, South Africa and Sri Lanka.
Pujara also had a brilliant List A career, averaging close to 57, but had limited opportunities in a power-packed India white-ball lineup of the 2010s.
Some of Pujara’s best performances came in adverse circumstances, such as a feisty 145* that helped secure a series win in Colombo, or his fighting second innings efforts in Sydney (77) and Brisbane (56) during India’s historic series win Down Under in 2021.
Australia remained a favourite opposition of Pujara, even as he scored 2074 runs from his Test tally against the side at an average close to 50.