India, Aug. 24 -- Legendary batters Sunil Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar lavished praise on Cheteshwar Pujara following his retirement, as the Test stalwart brought the curtain down on his career in Indian cricket. Pujara, who last featured for India in the World Test Championship 2023 final, announced his retirement on Sunday. The talismanic batter was the backbone of the Indian red-ball batting line-up for almost a decade from 2012 to 2022 as he scored 7,195 runs during illustrious Test career, including 19 hundreds, from 103 matches, averaging 43.60.

Pujara was the standout player for India in the historic Test series victory in Australia during 2018-19. He amassed 521 runs in seven innings, ending India's BGT drought Down Under.

Gava...