India's veteran Test batter Cheteshwar Pujara will be playing his 100th career Test match in the upcoming 2nd Test match against Australia in Delhi. Pujara will become the 13th Player to reach the milestone of playing 100 Test matches for India. The 35-year-old will be joining the elite set of players like Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Virat Kohli and others in the list. Here in this article, we will have a look at how Pujara has performed in his Test career and some of the records that he has achieved in his Test career so far.
Cheteshwar Pujara in Test cricket:
Matches - 99*
Innings - 169
Runs - 7021
Average - 44.16
50s : 34; 100s : 19
H.S: 206* vs ENG in Ahmedabad, 2012
Pujara's Test records:
- Pujara has recorded two double tons in Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Most double hundreds in Border-Gavaskar Trophy for India:
Sachin Tendulkar - 2
VVS Laxman - 2
Cheteshwar Pujara - 2
Currently, Pujara has the most runs (1900) in Border-Gavaskar Trophy among active players.
- Cheteshwar Pujara holds the record for batting on all five days of a Test match.
Indians to bat on all five days of a Test match:
ML Jaisimha vs AUS in Kolkata, 1960
Ravi Shastri vs ENG in Kolkata, 1984-85
Cheteshwar Pujara vs SL in Kolkata, 2017
- Cheteshwar Pujara has been one of the five Indian batsman to face more than 15,000 balls in Test Cricket.
Indian batsman to face more than 15,000 balls in their Test Career:
Sunil Gavaskar
Sachin Tendulkar
Rahul Dravid
VVS Laxman
Cheteshwar Pujara
- Cheteshwar Pujara has been the only Indian batsman to face more than 500 balls in a Test inning.
Most balls faced by an Indian batsman in a Test inning:
Cheteshwar Pujara - 525 vs AUS in Ranchi, 2017
Rahul Dravid - 495 vs PAK in Rawalpindi, 2004
Navjot Singh Sidhu - 491 vs WI in Port of Spain, 1997
- Cheteshwar Pujara is currently 8th highest run-scorer for India in Test Cricket (7021).
Most runs for India in Test Cricket:
Sachin Tendulkar - 15921 (329 inns)
Rahul Dravid - 13265 (284 inns)
Sunil Gavaskar - 10122 (214 inns)
VVS Laxman - 8781 (225 inns)
Virender Sehwag - 8503 (178 inns)
Virat Kohli - 8131 (178 inns)
Sourav Ganguly - 7212 (188 inns)
Cheteshwar Pujara - 7021 (169 inns)
Cheteshwar Pujara career summary:
- Pujara made his Test debut against Australia in 2010 at Bengaluru (2nd Test) by replacing injured VVS Laxman and he scored an important 72 off 89 balls at number 3 position while chasing 207 runs in 4th innings of Test match.
- Pujara later was also part of 2010/11 tour of South Africa series. He played 2 Test matches at number 6 position but managed to score only 31 runs in 3 innings.
- In Aug, 2012 Cheteshwar Pujara became regular Test member of team India post the retirement of senior players like Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman.
- Pujara's career breakthrough came in Aug, 2012 home Test series against New Zealand where he smashed 159 (306) and recorded his maiden Test ton.
- Later in Nov, 2012 home Test series Pujara recorded his highest ever Test Score of 206* at Ahmedabad against England side. Cheteshwar Pujara's consistent run with the bat in the year 2012 home series made him to be permanent member of team India in Test Cricket.
Pujara's Centuries in 2012 Test matches:
159 vs NZ in Hyderabad
206* vs ENG in Ahmedabad
135 vs ENG in Mumbai (WS)
- In Mar, 2013 Pujara recorded another double ton with the bat on home soil against Australia at Hyderabad. Pujara's 370 run partnership with Murali Vijay completely changed the due course of game as he went onto smash 204 off 341 balls which helped their team to win by an innings margin easily.
- Later in same series against Australia, Pujara played a vital role in final Test match by scoring 52 & 82* to help India clean sweep this Test series by 4-0 margin.
- Pujara smashed a brilliant ton in Sachin Tendulkar's farewell Test match (Nov, 2013). Pujara-Sachin's brilliant 144 run partnership and another century from Rohit Sharma helped India to beat West Indies convincingly by an innings margin.
- Pujara was the leading run-scorer (280) in 2 match series against South Africa in Dec, 2013 where India played those two Tests on Johannesburg and Durban respectively. Pujara scores in those two Tests where 25, 153, 70 & 32.
- Pujara had very poor run with the bat in 2014 Test matches where India toured New Zealand, England and Australia respectively.
Pujara in 2014 with bat
Matches : 10
Innings : 20
Runs : 483
Avg : 24.15
50s : 2
H.S. : 73 vs AUS in Adelaide
- After not so good 2014 season with the bat, Pujara made a stellar comeback by smashing a brilliant ton (145*) against Sri Lanka at Colombo (SSC) in the 2015 series decider game to help India win by 2-1 margin.
- Cheteshwar Pujara played a terrific role with the bat in 2016-17 home series against teams like New Zealand, England, Australia and Sri Lanka respectively. He smashed his 3rd double ton of his career against Australia at Ranchi in 2017.
Pujara in 2016-17 home Tests:
Matches : 16
Innings : 28
Runs : 1605
Avg : 61.73
50s : 9; 100s : 5
H.S : 202 vs AUS in Ranchi
Notably, Pujara also played a brilliant role with bat by smashing 153 in Galle and 133 in Colombo (SSC) during 2017 tour to Sri Lanka as well.
- Cheteshwar Pujara had a disappointing season in 2018 tour to SA by scoring just 100 runs from 6 innings overall and later in 2018 tour to ENG he managed to score 278 runs from 8 innings. Despite Pujara's heroics (132*) in Southampton Indian team lost that Test game by 60 runs.
- Pujara's brilliant form with bat in 2018/19 tour to Australia helped India to create history by winning a Test series on Australian soil for first time.
Pujara in 2018/19 tour to Australia:
Matches : 4
Innings : 7
Runs : 521
Avg : 74.42
50s : 1; 100s : 3
H.S : 193 in Sydney
Pujara was highest run-scorer for India in Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2018/19 and he won Man of the Series award for his stellar performance with bat.
- Pujara unfortunately didn't score a single Test century for almost a period of 4 years from Jan, 2019 to Dec, 2022 but despite that fact he played a vital role in both 2020 / 21 Test Series win against Australia and Two Test wins against England in 2021.
- Pujara was dropped from India's Test squad for two match Test Series against Sri Lanka in 2022, after his poor form against South Africa in 2021/22 tour as he managed to score only 124 runs from 6 innings.
- Pujara in his comeback Test match against England scored 66 at Birmingham but later in Dec, 2022 he managed to get a Test hundred against Bangladesh in Chattogram after 1443 days.