Cheteshwar Pujara's career was given a major boost by Shah Rukh Khan

Indian Test batsman Cheteshwar Pujara is all set to hit the 50 match milestone in Test cricket when he takes the field at the SSC Ground in Colombo against Sri Lanka. Hailed as the perfect replacement for the legendary Rahul Dravid, Cheteshwar Pujara continues to grow every day as a prolific and appropriate Test player. He made his presence felt in the first Test at Galle against Sri Lanka with a stellar 153 run knock in the first inning.

Pujara started playing cricket under his father Arvind Shivlal Pujara, who was Ranji cricketer for Saurashtra. Shivlal Pujara has 3900 runs in Test cricket under his belt and was an extremely dedicated sports professional. In an exclusive interview with Xtra Time, he narrates some incidents from the vault related to his son Cheteshwar Pujara.

“When he was small about 8 years old I used to teach him.  In the railway quarters at Rajkot where we stayed, there was a big playing ground and all the kids used to play there” said Arvind.

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The year of 2010 was a harsh one in Pujara’s career as he fell victim to a major damaged ACL. The batsman had to serve a 6 month recovery period following the injury. However, Pujara showed great character and guts as he made a stormy come back.

Shivlal Pujara in his interview went on to mention how Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan played an important role in Cheteshwar’s recovery. “During the 2010 period he faced a major ACL injury and underwent a major operation. At that time he was in the KKR squad and Shah Rukh Khan suggest that the operation should be held in South Africa and he helped us a lot during that time” said Shivlal.

When asked about his feeling ahead of Pujara’s 50^th Test, Shivlal pointed out that every Test is of similar importance, and it a privilege for any cricketer to represent the country in the longest format of the game.

“50th is just a number, it has equal importance as compared to others. the importance of the 49th test is similar to 50th test as well as the 100th test. Playing a test match is a different feeling altogether” he concluded.