India vs Australia: Cheteshwar Pujara Scores 17th Test Century, Second Of The Series

Cheteshwar Pujara brought up his 17th Test century and second of the series with a beautiful drive off Nathan Lyon for four on day two of the third Test against Australia in Melbourne on Thursday. The experienced Pujara, who has scored more runs and faced more balls than any other batsman in the series, was 68 not out overnight and continued slowly to build on his total. Pujara's fourth Test century against Australia is also his slowest in the longest format of the game and also the third slowest by an Indian in Australia, behind Sunil Gavaskar (286 balls, Adelaide 1985) and current India coach Ravi Shastri (307 balls, SCG 1992). Pujara is also the fifth Indian batsman to score a century in the Boxing Day Test.

Oh what a feeling!
17th Test ton for @cheteshwar1 #TeamIndia #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/1RIaLiJa4W

— BCCI (@BCCI) December 27, 2018

This is the first time Pujara has scored two centuries in an overseas Test series.

With this century, Pujara has surpassed former India captain Sourav Ganguly, who has 16 Test centuries to his name. 

Pujara (322), the highest-run scorer of the series, now has most runs for him in a series away from home going past 309 runs in Sri Lanka in 2017. 

During the course of his knock, Pujara also went past 2000 Test runs away from home in his 31st match at an average of over 39. He also went past 5200 runs in the longest format in his 113th innings at an average of over 50. 

At lunch on day two, India were 277 for two with Pujara not out on 103 and Kohli on 69, leaving Australia facing mounting problems on a lifeless pitch offering little for the bowlers.

India lost opening pair Hanuma Vihari and Mayank Agarwal on day one but it only served to bring two of the world's best batsmen together, with their partnership now worth 154.

Topics mentioned in this article

India Cricket Team Australia Cricket Team Cheteshwar Pujara Australia vs India 2018/19 Melbourne Cricket Ground Cricket Australia vs India, 3rd Test