The insatiable Cheteshwar Pujara carried on and rubbed the Australian bowling to the turf, but ended just short of his fourth double century on the second day in the ongoing Test match at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Nathan Lyon got his wicket for 193, and he walked off to a standing ovation by the Sydney crowd.
It was flawless innings by the number three batsman as he led India's charge to a position of complete dominance. In this pursuit, he went past a number of records and a number of big names in Indian cricket.
This effort was third 150+ score away from home and the first against Australia. Hence, he became the ninth Indian to score 150+ runs in an innings in Australia and also the second Indian batsman to score a 150 as a number 3 batsman in Australia. Back in 2003, Rahul Dravid scored 233 at the Adelaide Oval.
Most number of balls faced
The man loves batting, he wants to be out there and withstood bowling attack and till lunch on Day 2, he had faced 332 balls, scripted a unique history as he became the fifth Indian batsman after Dravid(1203 balls - 2003/04), Vijay Hazare (1,192 balls - 1947-48), Virat Kohli (1,093 balls - 2014-15) and Sunil Gavaskar (1,032 balls - 1977-78), to have faced 1,000 or more balls in a Test series in Australia.
"I see Pujara at the moment and you can sense that hunger by the way he is batting. With that second new ball, not trying to take the hook shot or pull shot, he is defending, letting those balls go and that tells me he knows he is in good form and he wants a massive hundred," former Australian captain Michael Clarke told India TV yesterday about Pujara.
Pujara also drew praise from his own team members and opener Mayank Agarwal who missed out on his own century said that there is so much one could learn from the number 3 batsman.
"The way he grinds the bowlers. He's got a pattern to it, he understands his strengths, he sticks to that, he knows he's very tight with his defence. He looks to do that and he waits for the bad ball to come," Mayank said.
