‘Honoured and grateful’ - Cheteshwar Pujara's long wait finally ends, gets his hands on prestigious Arjuna award after five years

India's star batter Cheteshwar Pujara finally got his hands on the prestigious Arjuna award on Saturday, November 19 that he was awarded five years ago, in 2017. The right-hander received the award by the Union Minister of Youth Affairs & Sports, Anurag Thakur, belatedly on Saturday at a hand over ceremony.

The red-ball specialist was recommended by the BCCI for the prestigious award back in 2017. However, he was unable to receive the award back then as he was busy playing for the English county team, Nottinghamshire.

Pujara took to social media after he was presented with the award on Saturday by the Union Minister of Youth Affairs & Sports, 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

"Thankful to @IndiaSports @BCCI and @ianuragthakur to organise and hand over 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.

The Arjuna award is presented to sportsmen/women for their exemplary performances across various sports. Furthermore, the award is the second-highest sporting honour in India, the highest being the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award.

The right-hander has represented the national side in as many as 96 Test matches and amassed 6792 runs in 164 innings. Pujara last played a Test for India against England in Birmingham where he scored 13 and 66 runs respectively in the first and the second innings of the match.

The veteran player will be a part of India A squad that will tour Bangladesh ahead of the two-match Test series in the neighbouring country next month in December. The ‘A’ series will precede the senior team tour, with Rohit Sharma’s team India set to play two Tests and three ODIs between December 4 and 26.