India vs Windies 2018: Cheteshwar Pujara Reveals the Reason Why He Wasn't Allowed to Celebrate Any Festivals

One of the mainstays in the team India middle order, Cheteshwar Pujara has established himself as one of the vital cogs in the side. He has been a prolific run-scorer for India in Tests ever since making his debut back in 2010.

However, in a video uploaded by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Pujara spoke along with his father, Arvind Pujara and also about the rapport they share with each other. Cheteshwar Pujara went onto concede his father helped him immensely during his early days in the game. Pujara Jr further revealed his father was very strict. He was not allowed to enjoy any festival or burst firecracker during Diwali.

“I would say that he was very strict, especially in my early days. I was never allowed to go anywhere and celebrate any festivals. I was never allowed to participate in the kite flying festival or burst firecrackers during Diwali because if I suffered an injury, I wouldn’t have been able to go for the practice the following day,” he said.

Cheteshwar Pujara reveals the restrictions he had as a child

“I had so many restrictions in my early days, but it helped me focus on my game. And now, we have come to terms where now he is a bit liberal about what I do. He understands that there are times when cricketers need to relax a bit. So now we have a good rapport,” Cheteshwar Pujara said with a smile.

Cheteshwar Pujara revealed his father played a significant role not only as a coach.

“Not just as a coach but even as a father, he was helped me a lot. When I was seventeen I lost my mother. It wasn’t easy to go through that phase, but mentally he was very strong, and we kept working on my game. He has a huge role to play in my life and cricket as well.”

Cheteshwar Pujara further revealed that his father doesn’t know anything about him other than cricket.

“Whenever he talks, he will just talk about cricket. If you ask him anything apart from cricket, with respect to me, I don’t think he will be able to answer that. My fans will know more about my hobbies than my father,” Pujara added.

However, India is all set to meet the Windies in a two-match Test series starting on Thursday in Rajkot. Also, young 18-year-old Prithvi Shaw is all set to make his Test debut.