Beyond the grind: Cheteshwar Pujara’s five most unique career records across formats | Cricket News
Cheteshwar Pujara brought down the curtains on a storied career, remembered largely for his gigantic First-Class achievements across two decades, on Sunday. The Saurashtra batting hero trumped his opponents the virtue of his undeterred spirit and ability to hold the crease at an end firm for hours and hours. Pujara’s career records in Test match cricket stand as a testament.No batter, not even the great Rahul Dravid, had faced as many deliveries as Pujara for India in a Test innings as he continues to remain as the only batter from the country to knock down more than 500 balls in an outing. There are other obvious achievements worth remembering. Pujara bowed out as India’s second-best No. 3 ever in terms of runs behind Dravid, with over 90 percent of his career runs coming at the slot.
No Indian had featured in more SENA Test match wins than Pujara (11) has during his career, with his gargantuan tally of 66 First-Class hundreds also bettered only three other Indian legends – Sachin Tendulkar (81), Sunil Gavaskar (81) and Dravid (68). However, there are also the obscure records, those that do not tell the Pujara story in its entirety.
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Here is a look at five unknown and versatile Cheteshwar Pujara records
First Saurashtra batter to hit a T20 century
Yes, you read that right. Nearly a decade of his career into international cricket itself, Pujara had become the first batter to slam a T20 hundred for Saurashtra. The Rajkot batter achieved the feat in a Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy match against Railways in Indore, scoring exactly 100* in 61 deliveries with 14 fours and a six. Only two batters have since recorded T20 centuries for Saurashtra. It remained the only century of his 71-match T20 career, which accounted for 1556 runs.
Highest L A average among Indians (beating Virat Kohli!)
Pujara was an accumulator for all seasons and perhaps, every cricket ball too. He could temper the flow in Test matches and could certainly manoeuvre the yards in L A cricket, as is exemplified his wholesome batting average in 50-overs cricket.
In fact, his runs per innings shares even tops 50-overs phenom Virat Kohli! Pujara’s 57.01 average for 5759 L-A runs is the best among all Asian batters and is only bettered Michael Bevan for anyone who has scored at least 5000 runs the format. Though Kohli averages 56.81 with nearly triple the appearances, it remains somewhat surprising that Pujara was a branded red-ball player after averaging as much as he did across 130 matches.
Highest L A average (min. 5000 runs)
Player
MTs
Runs
HS
Ave
100s
50s
Michael Bevan
427
15103
157*
57.86
13
116
Cheteshwar Pujara
130
5759
174
57.01
16
34
Virat Kohli
336
15623
183
56.81
55
82
Babar Azam
202
9437
158
53.92
30
56
Khurram Manzoor
166
7922
190*
53.52
27
39
AB de Villiers
263
11123
176
53.47
29
63
James Taylor
136
5365
146*
53.11
15
30
Shubman Gill
110
5039
208
53.04
14
26
Only ‘A’ triple centurion
Pujara’s penchant for daddy hundreds was etched quite early in his career when he slammed his maiden First-Class triple century in November 2008, two years before his Test debut. Joined Ravindra Jadeja in an epic fifth-wicket stand, Pujara slammed 302 not out against Odisha in Rajkot, with the duo’s 520-run partnership still remaining a First-Class record for the 5th wicket.Story continues below this ad
However, Pujara later went onto smash two more triple centuries in First Class cricket, one of them coming against in an A-level game for India A. Incidentally, Pujara became the first and only player yet to record a triple century while representing an ‘A’ side of any country in First-Class cricket, achieving the feat in 2013 in Hubbali against West Indies. Pujara later went onto declare his stoic ton as one of his best-ever performances at the domestic level.
Batting on all five days..yet
Across his illustrious Test career, Pujara ended up reserving more than 15 complete days batting for India. Interestingly, Pujara also belongs to a rare club of players who ended up batting on all five days of a Test match.
The rare instance occurred during the 2017 Test against Sri Lanka in Kolkata wherein Pujara entered stumps early on Day 1 with rain playing spoilsport. More runs on day two meant Pujara ended on 47* at stumps before falling on 52 on day three as India folded for a paltry 172. Returning for his second innings late on Day 4, Pujara once again walked to the dug out on 2 at the close of play. He was dismissed on 22 on the final day where India closed in on a thrilling win before rain enforced a draw.
While the marathon man made an entry into the special l of 13 cricketers, Pujara is the only batter from the l to not amass even 75 runs despite batting on each day of a Test.Story continues below this ad
Most runs in a country outside England in a season
Outside cricket’s traditional abode of England, Pujara’s sheer peaks as a First-Class cricketer remains as a benchmark for run aggregates in a season. He held an undisputed run in India in the 2016-17 season, scoring 1316 Test runs at 62.66 in 13 matches and finishing with an overall of 2064 runs, including domestic commitments. Pujara broke a 52-year-old record held Chandu Borde (1604) scoring his mountain of runs at 82.56 with seven centuries, the most in any country outside England in an FC season.
Understated U19-WC hero
Shortly after his FC debut, Pujara featured in the 50-overs U19 World Cup for India in 2006. Pujara dominated the batting charts and finished as the highest run-getter of the tournament held in Sri Lanka with 349 runs. While he was adjudged the Player of the Tournament, it was his teammates Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja who surged ahead into the India dressing room with debuts in 2007 and 2008 respectively, and subsquently went onto become bigger names in limited-over formats.
Most runs in a FC season in India
Player
MTs
Innings
R
HS
100s
Avg
Season
Cheteshwar Pujara
17
29
2064
256
7
82.56
2016/17
Chandu Borde
21
28
1604
168
6
64.16
1964/65
Cheteshwar Pujara
13
23
1585
352
5
93.23
2012/13
