England Tour, Duleep Trophy Snub Forced Cheteshwar Pujara Into Retirement: Reports

Just a couple of months ago, Cheteshwar Pujara expressed his interest in playing the upcoming domestic season, as he still harboured hopes of making a return to India's Test team. However, he was not named in the Duleep Trophy 2025 squad. Before that, he was not considered for the England Tests either.

A combination of the two is reportedly believed to have forced Pujara to go back on his words and announce retirement.

"Perhaps if he was picked for the Test series in England, Pujara would have retired after the fifth Test. Look, one big factor in his retirement is also the fact that he doesn't play in the IPL. In that case, the Test snub and the Duleep Trophy snub meant there was little point in continuing to play domestic cricket for Saurashtra," a source told Times of India.

The 37-year-old last played for India in the World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia in 2023. In his final Ranji Trophy season for Saurashtra, he scored 402 runs in 10 innings, including a fifty and a century as his side crashed out at the quarter-final stage.

Pujara has been India's batting backbone for over a decade, having amassed 7,195 runs at 43.60, which include 19 tons and 35 fifties in 103 Tests.