The out-of-favour India batter Cheteshwar Pujara has admitted that his international career has been full of ups and downs in the last few years and one needs to prove his worth regardless of his experience.
After being dropped from India's Test squad after an underwhelming performance in the summit clash of the World Test Championship 2021-23 cycle at The Oval in London, the veteran India batter is trying to prove his worth and that he is still good enough to stake a claim in India's batting order in the longest format of the sport.
The WTC final against eventual champions Australia saw Pujara return scores of 14 and 27 which led the selectors to leave him out of the squad that toured the West Indies recently for a two-match Test series (part of the World Test Championship 2023-25 cycle).
"There have been ups and downs in the last few years. It tests you as a player because having played, say more than 90 Test matches, I still had to prove myself. I still had to prove that I belonged there. It's a different type of challenge," Pujara told the Final Word Podcast.
"Sometimes you do get frustrated, even if you have to prove yourself after 90 Tests and five-six thousand, whatever number of runs I had scored. It's not easy. Sometimes it plays around with your ego. There are still doubts - are you good enough? If you have to prove yourself again and again, (you wonder) whether it is worth it," added Pujara.
The 35-year-old has impressed since his axing. He scored a century against Central Zone in the Duleep Trophy while playing for West Zone and has racked up two centuries for Sussex against Northamptonshire and Somerset respectively while playing in the One-Day Cup.
Speaking on his stint with the Indian team over the years, Pujara mentioned that he has always tried to play for the team's cause and not for his spot in the team.
"In my cricketing career, I have been put under pressure so many times where I've lost my spot in the team. But you just try and play for the team. You don't try and play for your spot.
"If you play for your spot, you're just another selfish cricketer who is just being there in the playing XI, playing for the spot but not contributing to the team," he concluded.
