Pujara Urges Young IPL Stars To Build Lasting Base

Cheteshwar Pujara knows what Indian cricket fame can do to a young player.

One good IPL season can change a teenager’s life. Suddenly, clips travel faster than cover drives. Fans know the name. Brands start calling. Selectors begin watching.

But Pujara’s warning to India’s new crop is simple. Cricket gives fame quickly. Keeping that respect takes much longer.

Pujara warns young stars

Pujara, now also working in commentary on JioHotstar’s Championswali Commentary feed, has been watching the next generation closely.

He spoke about players like Vaibhav Suryavanshi and Ayush Mhatre, who represent a very different cricketing age. They grow up with cameras everywhere, data everywhere, and pressure arriving early.

His point was not about slowing them down. It was about building something that lasts.

Pujara said young players need a strong base if they want long careers. Even in T20, he said, there is a method. It is not only about hitting from ball one.

That sounds basic, but it matters. Modern cricket finds weaknesses very fast. Analysts study old videos. Bowlers work out scoring zones. Teams plan dismissals before a player walks in.

So a young batter cannot survive on surprise alone. Once opponents learn the pattern, the real test begins.

Pujara used Vaibhav as an example. He said the youngster has done well for two years. But if he can keep producing across the next 5 seasons, he can move from promising to genuinely excellent.

That is the hard part in Indian cricket. Many players arrive with noise. Fewer stay long enough to become dependable.

IPL fame is only step one

The IPL has become Indian cricket’s loudest audition room.

A teenager can face international bowlers, play before packed grounds, and become a household name within weeks. For families watching from small towns, that rise feels almost unreal.

But Pujara reminded young cricketers that IPL success should not become the final dream.

He said they must keep India’s bigger targets in mind. The ODI World Cup is ahead. T20 World Cups keep coming. Young players, he said, should aim to win trophies for India.

That is an important line. The IPL pays well, teaches fast, and toughens players. But the India shirt still carries a different weight.

A franchise season can make a career. An India campaign defines one.

This is where selection rooms face a tricky question. If youngsters keep performing, should senior players still hold their places?

Pujara’s answer was practical. Pick players on performance. If younger players do well and seniors struggle without improving, selectors must look at options.

But he also pushed back against age-based decisions. If senior players are still performing, dropping them only because they are older makes little sense.

That balance matters. Indian cricket often swings between two extremes. It either holds on too long, or gets carried away by fresh names.

The best teams avoid both mistakes. They mix hunger with experience. They do not confuse youth with form, or age with decline.

T20 has not killed Tests

Pujara has built his own reputation in Test cricket. His 103 Tests, 7,195 runs, and 19 hundreds tell their own story.

So when he defends the IPL, it carries weight.

He rejected the easy claim that the IPL has lowered Test cricket’s quality. His argument was clear. India found several major red-ball players through the same league.

Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, and Mohammed Shami all grew through the IPL system before becoming major Test forces.

That is a useful reminder. T20 does not automatically weaken long-form cricket. Poor coaching and poor planning do.

The IPL exposes players to pressure. It places young Indians beside elite overseas professionals. It teaches them how to think under noise.

For bowlers especially, that education can be priceless. A young fast bowler learns yorkers, slower balls, bouncers, and field plans quickly. Later, those skills can serve Test cricket too.

But Pujara’s warning about foundation applies here again.

A batter who has only one gear will struggle. A bowler without control will get found out. A player without patience may shine briefly, then fade.

India’s challenge is to use the IPL as a bridge, not a shortcut. The league can discover talent. The domestic system must still polish it.

Commentary gives Pujara a new pitch

Pujara also spoke about his move into commentary, and there was a small insight there.

On the field, fans rarely saw him as a loud talker. His batting had a quiet rhythm. He wore bowlers down, session by session.

In commentary, the job changes. You must talk, explain, observe, and keep viewers engaged.

Pujara said cricket itself is not hard for him to discuss. But studying players for analysis required work.

That detail is revealing. Good commentary is not just opinion. It needs homework.

In the IPL, he has to speak about young Indians, overseas players, experienced names, and new tactical trends. So he studies how players bat or bowl, how they have developed, and what has changed recently.

For viewers, that can make a difference. They do not need noise for 40 overs. They need someone who can explain why a field changed, why a batter slowed down, or why a bowler returned at a certain point.

Pujara’s style may fit that space well. He has always understood cricket through patience and patterns.

Mumbai must solve form quickly

Pujara also weighed in on Mumbai Indians, whose uneven run has drawn attention.

He accepted that Mumbai’s performance has dipped. But he did not call it a crisis.

His reasoning was simple. Mumbai had already shown signs of recovery with a strong win against Lucknow. The problem, he said, needs planning, not panic.

He said the players must sit together and work out their strategy. Sometimes players lose form. But once they find rhythm, he believes Mumbai can become difficult to stop.

That may sound like a familiar dressing-room line. But in a 10-team IPL, even small delays hurt.

Earlier, a few teams dominated the top 4 race often. Now the tournament feels tighter. Every squad has Indian players with serious ambition.

Pujara sees that pressure as useful. Close matches, noisy crowds, and tense finishes can harden young Indian players.

That is the IPL’s biggest gift to Indian cricket. It gives pressure before the India cap arrives.

For young players, Pujara’s message is not romantic. It is almost old-school. Enjoy the fame, but do not trust it. Score again. Learn again. Fix the weakness before opponents use it.

Indian cricket will keep producing exciting names. The real question is which of them can survive the second season, the video analysis, the bad patch, and the louder expectations. That is where hype ends, and a career begins.