India’s batting stalwart Cheteshwar Pujara will be playing his 100th Test when India takes on Australia in the second Test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2022-23 on Friday. Pujara will be the 13th Indian cricketer to achieve this unique feat. Having made his Test debut in 2010, Pujara has scored over 7000 runs in the 99 Tests he has played so far. The right-handed batter averages 44.15 in red-ball cricket.
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Pujara has scored 19 centuries and 34 half-centuries in his decade-long Test career. Now, as the batter gets ready to play his 100th Test, Pujara received special messages from his teammates. Everyone from coach Rahul Dravid, captain Rohit Sharma, and Virat Kohli to Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, and Shubman Gill congratulated Pujara for this milestone.
While Dravid hailed Pujara for his determination so far and said that playing Test cricket for so long requires stubbornness, Rohit Sharma hailed the veteran batter for giving it up all throughout his journey. Virat Kohli, meanwhile, congratulated the batter and hailed him for making a comeback when the odds were against him. R Ashwin called Pujara the “white walker of Indian cricket”. The veteran batter was also addressed as the silent assassin my one of the members in the support staff.
Earlier, on Wednesday, Rahul Dravid had showered massive praise on Pujara for his resilience and determination. "To play 100 Tests is a great achievement for any cricketer. Yes, you need talent but you need lot of other things. It's about longevity. Your fitness, your resilience, ability to handle success and failure," Dravid said at the pre-match press conference.
"Everyone sees ups and downs in this long journey. You need to face and overcome these. You need to play different kinds of bowling, face various questions on and off the field. Pujara has taken at least 13-14 years to get here, its a tribute to his skill and so many other things as I have mentioned.