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When Cheteshwar Pujara made a Test debut in October 2010, only 5 batsmen have faced more than 16,217 balls in this format. Joe Root, Alastair Cook, Azhar Ali, Steven Smith and Virat Kohli. The same thing shows the importance of Pujara for the Indian team for more than a decade.
Pujara retired from all the formats of international cricket on Sunday. He scored 7,195 runs in 176 innings of 103 matches of his 15 -year -old Test career at an average of 43.60. During this, 19 centuries and 35 half -centuries were also scored. His best score was 206* run. A look at the 15 achievements of his cricket career …
1. Indians who play the most balls in an innings Pujara is the most ball -playing Indian in an innings for India. He scored 202 runs against Australia in 2017 Ranchi, in which he played 525 balls. He is one of the only 4 batsmen in the world who played 500+ balls in a Test innings against Australia. Walley Hammond (3 times), Lane Hatton and Kane Barrington once.
2. Third Indian to bat for five days of Test 3 times an Indian batsman has batted all five days in the Test. All three occurred in Eden Gardens (Kolkata). ML Jayasinha did this against Australia in 1960, Ravi Shastri in 1984 against England and Pujara in 2017 against Sri Lanka.
A total of 13 batsmen have done this feat in Test history. The latest example is of Usman Khwaja, who did this in the first Test (Edgbaston) of Ashes 2023.
In 2017, Pujara batted for five days of the Test match against Sri Lanka.
3. Eighth Indian to score more than 7 thousand runs in Test Pujara scored 7195 runs in Test cricket. He is one of the 8 batsmen in India who has scored more than 7000 runs in Tests. Prior to them, this feat has been done by Sachin Tendulkar (15921), Rahul Dravid (13265), Sunil Gavaskar (10122), Virat Kohli (9230), VVS Laxman (8781), Virender Sehwag (8503) and Saurav Ganguli (7212). Pujara is the 14th player to play more than 100 (103) Tests for India.
Pujara is the 8th Indian to score 7 thousand runs in Test cricket.
4. Second Indian to score the highest run in number-3 for India Pujara is the second batter to score the most runs while playing in number-3 in Tests for India. He scored 6529 runs in this position, including 18 centuries. In both these figures for India, only Rahul Dravid (10524 runs, 28 centuries) is ahead of him.
Overall, the batsmen who scored 6000+ runs on number-3 in Tests are just 5, Kumar Sangakkara (11679), Ricky Ponting (9904), Kane Williamson (8658), Hashim Amla (7993) and Rahul Dravid.
5. The third Indian to score one thousand runs in Test Pujara made a great start to the Test career and completed 1000 runs in just 18 innings. This is the third fastest record from India. Vinod Kambli (14 innings) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (16 innings) are ahead of them.
6. The only Indian to be part of 11 wins of SENA countries Pujara participated in India’s 11 Tests, which came to SENA countries (South Africa, England, New Zealand, Australia). This is the highest for any Indian player. He is followed by Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant, Jaspreet Bumrah and KL Rahul with 10-10 wins.
Pujara’s best performance in these matches includes centuries in Adelade and Johannesburg (2018) and Brisbane (2020–21) on Australia tour.
Pujara scored a century in Johannesburg against South Africa in 2013.
7. Play 1258 balls in Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2018-19 Cheteshwar Pujara played 1258 balls in the 2018/19 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. This is the second highest balls played by any Indian batsman in the 4 -Test series. Only Rahul Dravid (1336 balls, England tour 2002) played more than him. The same two players are the only batsman to score 3+ centuries in a Test series (home or outside) on number-3 from India.
8. Pujara opening and fourth Indians who are unbeaten in an innings Pujara is also the fourth Indian to be unbeaten in an innings after getting off the opening. In 2015, he scored an unbeaten 145 against Sri Lanka in Colombo. Earlier, this feat was done by Sunil Gavaskar (Pakistan, Faisalabad 1983), Virender Sehwag (Sri Lanka, Galle 2008) and Rahul Dravid (England, The Oval 2011).
The picture is in 2015, Pujara scored a century while opening against Sri Lanka.
9. Play 1296 balls against Nathan Lion of Australia Nathan Lion Vs Pujara was the most popular match of Test cricket in recent years. Pujara played 1296 balls of Lion and was dismissed 13 times. This is the most often dismissal against any bowler. Lion also dismissed a batsman the most often (13) Pujara in Tests. Despite this, Pujara’s average was 43.92.
10. Fourth highest cricket scorer of first class Pujara scored 21,301 runs in first-class cricket. This figure is the fourth largest after Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid for India. He also scored 66 centuries.
Pujara played 5 Ranji in the final for Saurashtra. These include runners-up in 2012-13, 2015-16 and 2018-19 and won the title in 2019-20 and 2022-23. He scored the most runs for Saurashtra (7774 runs) and (25) centuries.
11. 18 double centuries in first-class cricket Pujara scored 18 double centuries in first-class cricket. This figure is the fourth largest in the world. There are only Sir Don Bradman (37), Volley Hammond (36) and Pati Hendrain (22) ahead of him. This record in India is with Vijay Merchant (11).
Pujara scored 3 triple centuries in first-class cricket. This is the highest joint for an Indian. He is accompanied by Ravindra Jadeja with 3 triple centuries.
Cheteshwar Pujara has 66 centuries in first class cricket.
12. Pujara’s defense was excellent In today’s era, while playing aggressive cricket and attacking bowlers is considered the best way, Pujara is known for his defensive style. They are still among the few batsmen who believe in defeating the bowlers. His style has also been criticized, but this style scored him more than 7000 runs and 19 centuries.
As long as Pujara stayed at the crease, India added a total of 15,804 runs. That is, in the innings in which he played, about 30.6% of India’s runs were scored during his presence. There are only 2 Indians ahead of them. Former coaches Rahul Dravid (36%) and Sunil Gavaskar (34.9%). Sachin Tendulkar (29.7%) and Virat Kohli (29.1%) are in fourth and fifth place.
Tendulkar and Kohli have a strike rate above 50, while Pujara’s strike rate is around 40. For this reason, the percentage of Pujara comes out more than them. Steven Smith tops the list of all countries with 36.9%, while Dravid is in his favorite number-3 location.
13. India faced 33.4% ball while living at Pujara’s crease If you compare the balls instead of the run, Pujara is sixth of the 42 batsmen who have batted at least 100 times since October 2010. He has faced 15,797 balls in his career, but as long as he stayed at the crease, the opposition bowlers bowled 31,283 balls.
That is, 33.4% of India’s total balls were played during his presence. In the last 12 years, only 5 batsmen are ahead of them in this matter. Among them, Steve Smith of Australia is ranked first.
14. Not successful in the last 5 years Pujara’s ability to stay at the crease for a long time has given many other batsmen of the team a chance to make a big score. But it is also true that the last 5 years have not been special for him.
Leaving his 521 runs of the 2018-19 Australia series, only twice out of the 12 series played after this, when he played at least three innings, his average reached 40.
In the 45 Tests played since 2018, Pujara average has been only 34.53 and he could score only 5 centuries in 79 innings. This is much lower than the average of his first 54 Tests (about 53). At the same time, the pace of scoring a century has also fallen. Earlier they used to score a century every 6.4 innings, now on an average one century comes in every 15.8 innings.
15. Pujara and Azhar Ali’s records the same The figures of Cheteshwar Pujara and Pakistan’s No. 3 batsman Azhar Ali are almost the same. Azhar played 97 matches in his Test career. During this time he had an average of 42.26. Azhar has 19 centuries and 35 half -centuries. Pujara also has the same number of 19 centuries and 35.
Like Azhar, Pujara’s good days were till 2017. At that time Azhar average was 46.62 and he scored 14 centuries, just like Pujara. But after 2018, the figures of both fell. Azhar’s average was 34.11 and Pujara’s 34.53, and both scored 5-5 centuries.
After 2018, Pujara’s figures in India fell badly. His average abroad was reduced from 38.52 to 35.80 slightly, but the fall in the house reached 62.97 to 31. Before 2018, he had scored 10 centuries in 55 innings in India, but since then he could not score a single century in 20 innings.
