"Had a nice smile on his face" - RCB legend opens up on sharing the dressing room with Cheteshwar Pujara in IPL

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) legend AB de Villiers opened up on playing with Indian batter Cheteshwar Pujara in the Indian Premier League. Pujara was part of the RCB squad from 2011 to 2013.

De Villiers noted that Pujara didn't get to be in the playing XI frequently during the stint. However, he suggested that the Saurashtra batter always had a smile on his face despite being on the bench.

Speaking in his latest YouTube video, the former South Africa captain said (at 0:47):

"What a fantastic player! I played with him at RCB for a brief while. I think it was one season, maybe two. He didn't play a lot of games, so he won't have fond memories of it, but I do, as I've always enjoyed his presence. Very quiet, calm, collected kind of character. Just a nice guy, genuinely. Had a nice smile on his face more often than not, and that's what I'll remember about him at RCB."

Cheteshwar Pujara played 14 matches across three seasons for RCB. The right-handed batter amassed 143 runs across 10 innings at a strike rate of 94.01. In the 2013 edition, he played a 51-run knock off 48 balls in the team's six-wicket defeat to Kings XI Punjab.

In IPL 2012, Pujara hit a stunning six with an upper-cut off former Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Australia speedster Brett Lee in the first over. It remains one of the notable moments of the Test specialist's IPL career.

The 37-year-old announced his retirement from all forms of Indian cricket on August 24, 2025. He is currently the eighth-highest run-scorer for India in Test cricket, with 7,195 runs from 176 innings at an average of 43.60.

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"I had so much respect for him" - AB de Villiers lauds Cheteshwar Pujara's memorable Test career

Cheteshwar Pujara established himself as the linchpin of India's Test batting unit during his prime. The seasoned campaigner played several gritty knocks and finished his Test career with 19 hundreds and 35 fifties.

AB de Villiers reserved high praise for Pujara. Comparing the batter to Indian batting legend Rahul Dravid, he added in the same video (at 1:12):

"His Test career is what we'll remember about him when it comes to cricket. Just a guy with a lot of grit. fighting spirit, never say die kind of attitude. Us South Africans always look at the way we play, and we are proud of the way that we never say die, and we have that kind of fighting spirit.

"But Pujara was one of those guys that I look at and I had so much respect for him, the way he played Test cricket. Always the rock in the team, almost similar in a way to Rahul Dravid back in the day, who was a very, very tough campaigner to get rid of."

Cheteshwar Pujara's last appearance in international cricket came during India's World Test Championship (WTC 2023) final against Australia. He registered scores of 14 and 27 as India suffered a 209-run defeat.