'Honoured and grateful', says Cheteshwar Pujara as he finally receives Arjuna Award trophy after five years

On Saturday, India's top batter Cheteshwar Pujara received his Arjuna award trophy from Anurag Thakur, which he was awarded in 2017.

The batsman was nominated for the prestigious award by the BCCI in 2017, but was unable to accept it because he was engaged playing for his English county team at the time.

"Thankful to India Sports, BCCI, and Anurag Thakur to organize and handover the Arjuna Award belatedly, which I could not collect the year it was awarded to me due to my cricket commitments. Honoured and grateful," he tweeted.

Thankful to @IndiaSports, @BCCI and @ianuragthakur to organise and handover the Arjuna Award belatedly, which I could not collect the year it was awarded to me due to my cricket commitments. Honoured and grateful pic.twitter.com/Dokz4ZP3Hs

— Cheteshwar Pujara (@cheteshwar1) November 19, 2022

Pujara was the star of India's 13-Test home season in 2017, scoring 1316 runs, the highest-ever total for an Indian batter in a single Test season.

Pujara had previously extended his contract with Sussex for the 2023 season.

Pujara had an immediate impression when joining Sussex last year, hitting over 1000 County Championship runs, including a record-breaking three double centuries, and finished the season with an average of 109.4.

His excellent success continued in the 50-over Royal London Cup, where he captained the team in the absence of the injured Tom Haines, leading the team to the competition's semi-finals.

Pujara averaged 89.14 with a strike-right of 111.62 in nine RL50 games, with his top score of 174 coming against Surrey in just 131 deliveries.

The Indian batter most recently appeared in a test match for India against England in Birmingham, when he scored 13 and 66 runs in the first and second innings, respectively.

Pujara, who represents Saurashtra in domestic cricket, is in the national capital for the Vijay Hazare Trophy.

He will be a member of the India A squad that will tour Bangladesh ahead of the two-Test series there next month.

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