Published - | Updated - February 17, 2023 09:19 am
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Cheteshwar Pujara, the endurance player for Team India, was grinning as he entered the arena for his nation’s 100th red-ball match. The 35-year-old middle-order bulwark was greeted warmly by his teammates, who formed a guard of honour for him as he approached the pitch.
Cheteshwar Pujara, who has been the middle order’s mainstay, had a difficult 2022 after being benched for the series against Bangladesh because of his poor batting performance. The obstinate batter, like his batting, accepted the criticism head-on, though, and after playing some county cricket, he found his form again.
Prior to his historic performance, Pujara was congratulated by his teammates and head coach Rahul Dravid.and as the cricket player from Gujarat made his way to the playing field, his countrymen gave him the guard of honour. David Warner and Usman Khawaja, two Australian players, congratulated the Indian ace on attaining the milestone as well. Pujara was overcome with emotion and given an embrace by captain Rohit Sharma while taking the team photo.
After scoring a match-winning century against Bangladesh in December 2022, the batting prodigy ended his century drought in the longest version of the game. The humble batsman has faced some criticism in the past for his batting style, but they have been won over by his tenacity in the face of difficulty.
The Saurashtra player, who is now in his 100th game, has scored 7021 runs, averaging 44.15.having 19 ages to his credit. He joins an elite group of players that includes Sachin Tendulkar, head coach Rahul Dravid, and Sourav Ganguly as the 13th cricketer from India to play 100 Test matches for his country.
India only made one change to the lineup before the game, replacing Suryakumar Yadav with Shreyas Iyer, who has recovered from his injury. Australia, meanwhile, has replaced left-arm spinner Matthew Kuhnemann in the lineup, leaving only skipper Pat Cummins as a pace bowler.
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