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‘It hurt me’: Pujara admits going unsold in IPL for years was ‘tough’ for him
Cheteshwar Pujara's long wait to once again represent an IPL franchise finally came to an end earlier this year when during the 2021 auction, Chennai Super Kings picked the batsman for his base price of ₹50 lakh. Before this, Pujara had gone six seasons without getting picked by any IPL team. His last IPL appearance dates back to 2014, where he played six matches for Punjab Kings, scoring 124 runs. He has one fifty in the IPL, a score of 51 against Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2013. During an interaction in a YouTube show 'Mind Matters', Pujara admitted staying out of the IPL was indeed tough for the batsman, to an extent that getting ignored repeatedly during auctions 'hurt' him. "It was tough. It was never easy to be left out and go unsold in the IPL. It hurt me. But that is something which I cannot control. After a point I realized that I'll try and focus on the things, which I can control and I kept working on getting better towards the shorter formats," said Pujara.
