Cheteshwar Pujara guides Derbyshire to win with attacking 90, poor outing for Varun Aaron

After his disappointing County debut against Glamorgan earlier this month, India batsman Cheteshwar Pujara hit a scintillating 90 not out off just 105 deliveries to star for Derbyshire in its Division 2 win against Surrey on Wednesday.

Pujara, who isn’t a part of India’s limited overs squad, is currently playing County Championship after having a poor tour of England.

Chasing a target of 251, Pujara was involved in a 154-run partnership with Billy Godleman who scored 104 in the second innings, as Derbyshire registered an 8-wicket win. After succumbing against Glamorgan, the Indian no 3 made good use of the fine batting surface, hitting 14 boundaries in his knock.

England discards like Jade Dernbach, Stuart Meaker and Gareth Batty were part of the Surrey bowling attack. Pujara hit seven and five consecutive boundaries against spinner Zafar Ansari and Meaker respectively.
Pujara scored 16 in the first innings.

While Pujara enjoyed a successful outing, another Indian, Varun Aaron, who’s playing in the County, was overshadowed by his Durham teammate Chris Rushworth, who registered match figures of 15/95 at Chester-le-Street.

Aaron bowled just 6 overs in the first innings, conceding 24 runs without picking a wicket. In the second innings, he just bowled one over and picked the wicket of no 10 batsman Maurice Chambers.

28-year-old Rushworth’s career best 9/52 in the first innings and 6/43 in the second broke the back of Northants batting as they were all out for 83 and 90 in reply to Durham’s 392.