Cheteshwar Pujara has been the mainstay of India’s batting line-up in Test cricket post fab-four era. In the ongoing Kolkata Test, he saved some pride for India against Sri Lanka in a batting condition very similar to England as he scored a well earned half-century out of India’s total of 172 in the first innings.
This fifty, Pujara became 8th India batsmen, who scored a 50+ score among top-five while rest of the others got out in single digits. Now, he entered in an elite list of India players, which features;
- V Manjrekar (58*) v WI, 1958/59 at Eden Gardens
2. D Vengsarkar (65) v WI, Kanpur, 1983
3. D Vengsarkar (102*) v ENG, Leeds, 1986
4. NS Sidhu (97) v PAK, Sialkot, 1989
5. SR Tendulkar (122) v ENG, Birmingham, 1996
6. R Dravid (60) v AUS, Bengaluru, 2004
7. V Sehwag (58) v AUS, Nagpur, 2004
8. SR Tendulkar (56) v ENG, Nottingham, 2011
9. G Gambhir (65) v ENG, Mumbai (Wankhede), 2012
However, this was the 10th instance, when any Indian batsmen achieved this feat. Sachin Tendulkar and Dileep Vengaskar are the only batsmen in a unique category, who achieved this feat twice.
The Test match is badly hit by rain in first two days game, where teams lost over 5 sessions. Meanwhile, India got all out on 172 after a gritty Pujara knock apart from some handy 20’s from Saha, Jadeja and Shami.
