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Cheteshwar Pujara goes past Joe Root to bag a huge record against Australia in first Test
On his way to patient 43 off 160 balls, Pujara also became registered a record to his name. He became the batsman to face most deliveries against Australian in the last 10 years.
Cheteshwar might have just missed his half-century but his gritty innings was one of the main reasons why India battled through the first session and then recovered from the early loss of wicket on Day 1 of the day-night Test match against Australia on Thursday.
On his way to patient 43 off 160 balls, Pujara also registered a record to his name. He became the batsman to face most deliveries against Australian in the last 10 years in Test cricket.
Pujara, who has now faced 3609 balls against Australia since January 1 2011, went past England skipper Joe Root, who faced 3607.
Pujara has played 16 Tests against Australia and batted in 28 of those to achieve the record. Root, on the other hand, has played 46 innings.
The third on the list is India captain Virat Kohli, who has faced 3183 balls against Australia (till 70th over of the day-night Test, India first innings) in 35 innings.
Former England captain Alastair Cook and former South Africa captain AB de Villiers have played 3122 and 2300 balls respectively.
Pujara put together an important 68-run stand with captain Kohli before he was dismissed by Australia off-spinner Nathan Lyon in the second session.
Kohli batted conservatively to reach the second break unbeaten on 39 off 111 deliveries and will resume for the final session with Ajinkya Rahane, who had two singles to his name.
Mitchell Starc had removed the out-of-form Prithvi Shaw with the second delivery of the day and Pat Cummins castled the other opener Mayank Agarwal later in the opening session to give Australia a strong start to the four-match series.
Pujara, Australia’s nemesis when India won their first series Down Under two years ago, proved more difficult to dislodge and had eked out 43 runs from 160 deliveries when he fell to Lyon.
The 32-year-old had struck his first two boundaries off consecutive deliveries from the off-spinner but was undone when a ball with a little bit of extra bounce hit his bat and flew into the air off his pad.
Marnus Labuschagne took the catch at leg gully but Australia needed to review the decision to finally remove Pujara, who scored 123 and 71 to lead India to victory in the corresponding test in 2018.
Captain Kohli, who won the toss and chose to bat, will be keen to make his mark on the series in his only test before he returns to India for the birth of his first child.
He provided most of what were rare flourishes for the restricted crowd of 21,000 to enjoy with four boundaries as India focused on building partnerships in difficult circumstances.
(With agency inputs)
