Cheteshwar Pujara

Cheteshwar Pujara emerged from the domestic grind at Saurashtra with a triple hundred in the 2008-09 Ranji Trophy, an innings that announced a batsman built for the longest format. After a Test debut in 2010 he drifted in and out of the side, but an unbeaten 206 against England in Ahmedabad in 2012 cemented his place. From there he became India's crisis specialist, the man who blunted new balls and wore down attacks on days when others fell around him.

His method was deliberately old-fashioned: tight defence, a disciplined leave, and the capacity to occupy the crease for hours. On the 2020-21 tour of Australia he absorbed 928 balls across the series, taking repeated blows to the body to set up the improbable win at Brisbane. At home, his long stands alongside Virat Kohli laid the foundation for a string of series victories. His strike rate drew criticism, but his value was never in doubt to anyone who understood the balance of a Test side.

He lost his place after a lean run in 2023, kept scoring heavily for Saurashtra and in county cricket, and retired from Indian cricket in 2025 with 7,195 Test runs at 43.60 and 19 hundreds. Pujara was never a crowd-pleaser, but his grit and patience made him the wall of India's batting for a decade.