Not Rabada Or Starc! Pujara Names 4 Toughest Bowlers He Faced | Cricket News

Last Updated:August 25, 2025, 18:10 IST

In his list of four bowlers, Pujara included two cricketers from South Africa and one each from England and Australia.

Cheteshwar Pujara names toughest bowlers he faced during his Test career. (Picture Credit: PTI)

Cheteshwar Pujara announced his retirement from international cricket on Sunday, August 24. The 37-year-old right-handed batter from Rajkot played 103 Test matches for India from 2010 to 2023 and scored 7195 runs. During his 13-year-long Test career, Pujara faced many greats of the game. But when asked to name the toughest bowlers he faced by the Times of India, he mentioned the names of two premier South African pacers, but surprisingly the list didn’t include Kagiso Rabada’s name.

Rabada is one of South Africa’s greatest all-format bowlers. The 30-year-old pacer, who picked up a five-wicket haul in the 2025 WTC at Lord’s earlier this year, has dismissed 336 batters in 71 Tests played so far. He has accounted for the dismissal of 55 batters in 14 Tests played so far against India.

Pujara also included one Australian pacer in his list, but that name was not of Mitchell Starc’s. The left-arm pacer has played 100 Tests for the Baggy Green so far and has dismissed 402 batters. In 23 Test matches against the Indian men’s cricket team, Starc has picked up 66 wickets.

Pujara took the names of former South African speedsters Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel and added England’s James Anderson and Australia’s Pat Cummins to the list as well.

“Across my career, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, James Anderson, and Pat Cummins have been among the most challenging bowlers I’ve faced,” Pujara told TOI.

Steyn played 14 Tests against India and picked up 65 wickets, whereas Morkel finished his career with 58 wickets in 17 red-ball matches against the Indian team. Cummins has so far dismissed 75 Indian batters in 18 Test matches, and Anderson removed 149 Indian batters in 39 Test matches.

Most wickets against India in Tests

Pujara finished his Test career with 7195 runs, which makes him the eighth leading run-getter for India in the five-day format of the game. Only Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sunil Gavaskar, Virat Kohli, VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag and Sourav Ganguly have scored more than him for Team India in the whites.

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