Record breaking day for Cheteshwar Pujara
January 4, Sydney: Cheteshwar Pujara broke many records in spite of missing out on a double ton. On Friday, Cheteshwar Pujara piled up 193 runs in India's first innings on the final Test against Australia getting the visitors on the edge of their seats. He missed his double ton by only 7 runs after being dismissed caught and bowled by Nathan Lyon on the 2nd day of the test. The cricketer chipped a straighter delivery from Nathan Lyon straight back to him to seal off his dismissal.
Pujara started the day on a personal overnight score of 130. He had Vihari on the other end and their partnership reached 101 runs, taking Pujara beyond 150 runs mark, him becoming the fifth Indian batsman to do so at the SCG. Later, Partnership of Pujara and Rishabh Pant also crossed the 50-run mark.
As quoted by cricbuzz, there was a whisper in the cricketing fraternity in the early 2000s of a boy from Saurashtra had just scored a triple-hundred at the Under-14 level. Then there were sightings that the same boy scored a double-hundred against England at the Under-19 level. The whispers got more prominent as he began to torment bowling attacks on his placid home-ground in Rajkot, and almost forced officials to change the playing conditions, such was his run-making prowess at the Ranji level. It was only a few years down the line that we came across the same boy with a squarer jawline and denser facial hair going by the name of Cheteshwar Pujara.
The same person broke many records with his inning on Friday:
Cheteshwar Pujara has now faced the most deliveries (1245) by a visiting batsman during a series in Australia, having played four or fewer Tests.
Cheteshwar Pujara has batted 1868 minutes in this Test series so far becoming only the second Indian to bat that long in a Test series. Only Sunil Gavaskar (1978 minutes vs WI in 1971 and 1976 minutes vs ENG in 1982) has batted longer in a Test series for India than Pujara.
Cheteshwar Pujara is only the fourth batsmen in the world to bat over 500 minutes in a Test innings against Australia twice.
He also became the fifth Indian highest individual scorer in Australia in Tests.
Also, he became the 8th India batsman to get dismissed in 190s in Tests.
The final test series against Australia witnessed another record on Friday when Rishabh Pant became the first Asian keeper to score a century in Tests in Australia.