Cricket
Cheteshwar Pujara registered his highest overseas Test score during the second day of the fourth Test between India and Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) on Friday.
Updated : Jan 04, 2019, 10:06 AM IST
Cheteshwar Pujara registered his highest overseas Test score during the second day of the fourth Test between India and Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) on Friday.
Pujara scored 193 as he missed out on his fourth Test double hundred by just seven runs when Nathan Lyon dismissed him.
Pujara had played his brand of all but error-free cricket for more than nine hours at the Sydney Cricket Ground and looked destined to secure a fourth double century of his career only to come up seven runs short.
In the end, the 30-year-old went with a whimper rather than a bang, scooping the ball back down the wicket to be caught and bowled by wily off-spinner Nathan Lyon for 193.
Twitter poured with tributes for India's Mr. Dependable, Pujara, after his stunning knock of 373-ball 193:
Quite amazed that Duracell haven’t approached Pujara yet for a tie up.
— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) January 4, 2019
Who questioned Pujara's strike rate :-
— Sang Singh Bhati (@SangSinghBhati_) January 4, 2019
"Just for the info, Pujara has a higher strike rate than Virat in this series."@vikrantgupta73 @sports_tak
Just 5 months back, Pujara wasn't selected in the team just to accommodate 3 openers. Now all those 3 openers have lost a place in the team while Pujara has become the best batsman of it. Irony? Luck? Selection Blunder !?@cricbuzz @indvsaus @IndiaCricNews
— NAMIT (@studiousnamit) January 4, 2019
Chitt ke Ishwar, another name for Lord Shiva - Cheteshwar Pujara.
— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) January 4, 2019
Destroyed Australia’s chances in the series, most number of balls batted by an Indian in a series against Australia. Outstanding 193, memorable knock pic.twitter.com/jEcTWhs7kQ
Well played. Singlehandedly won the series and broke the spirit of Australians. Australia Pujarafied.#Pujara
— Yasin (@yasin0786) January 4, 2019
Australia should do pooja for @cheteshwar pujara#
— Pramod raman (@Pramodraman5) January 4, 2019
Was watching the cricket, went outside, got a coffee, came home, showered, put the kettle on, watched Titanic, got lunch, read war and piece, left home, went travelling, did a gap year, turned the cricket back on... and Pujara was still batting
— The Grade Cricketer (@gradecricketer) January 4, 2019
australia have named their ODI squad. of course, pujara will still be batting when that series begins #AUSvIND
— Gaurav Kalra (@gauravkalra75) January 4, 2019
India are no one-man show, however, and his erstwhile partner Rishabh Pant kept the scoreboard ticking over with his first half century of the series.
The wicketkeeper-batsman will resume on 88 not out with Ravindra Jadeja unbeaten on 25 at the other end as India look to bat the home side out of a match the tourists only need to draw to secure a first series victory in Australia.
Pujara's centuries in Adelaide and Melbourne went a long way to giving India a 2-1 series lead and his 373-ball innings over the first two days of the fourth test could prove decisive.
The almost chanceless innings featured 22 fours and took his tally over the series to 521 runs at an average of 74.42.
Australia's previous best opportunity to dismiss him had come when he was already on 192.