India's Cheteshwar Pujara continued on a blistering run in his County stint for Sussex, as he slammed a century during the game against Durham on Friday. Pujara remained unbeaten on 128 at the end of the day's play, alongside Pakistan's leading wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan, who remained unbeaten on 5. The prospect of the two cricketers playing together in the same team drew significant attention from fans from across both the countries, and as the duo began its partnership in the final session of Day 2, a picture of the two having a conversation at the crease went viral.
“What a dream partnership,” the official Twitter account of the County Championships wrote as they shared pictures of Pujara and Rizwan.
The out-of-favour India batter Pujara has scored three hundreds including a double century in his five innings for Sussex so far. Making his debut for the English side, Pujara had scored 6 and an unbeaten 201 to help his side draw the match against Derbyshire.
{{/usCountry}}The out-of-favour India batter Pujara has scored three hundreds including a double century in his five innings for Sussex so far. Making his debut for the English side, Pujara had scored 6 and an unbeaten 201 to help his side draw the match against Derbyshire.
{{/usCountry}}In Sussex's innings-and-34-run loss to Worcestershire, he scored 109 in the first innings, followed by 12 in the second essay.
Mohammad Rizwan, meanwhile, didn't have the best of starts to his maiden County stint, as he was dismissed on 22 in the first innings of the game against Derbyshire, and didn't get to bat in the second innings. In the loss against Worcestershire, Rizwan failed to breach the double-figure mark, falling on 0 and 4 in both innings.
As Rizwan joined Pujara after the fall of the fifth wicket in the Sussex innings, he would be aiming for an improved show as both the players eye a maiden win with Sussex.
The fans from both countries, meanwhile, had heartwarming reactions to the stills of Pujara and Rizwan batting together. Here are some of the reactions:
The action on Day 3 begins at 3:30 PM on Saturday.