Personal information | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Full name | Cheteshwar Arvind Pujara | |||
Born | 25 January 1988 Rajkot, Gujarat, India | |||
Batting style | Right-handed | |||
Bowling style | Right arm leg break | |||
Role | Batsman | |||
International information | ||||
National side | India | |||
Test debut(cap 280) | 9 October 2010 v Australia | |||
Last Test | 2-6 march 2013 v Australia | |||
Domestic team information | ||||
Years | Team | |||
2005–present | Saurashtra | |||
2008–2010 | Kolkata Knight Riders | |||
2011–present | Royal Challengers Bangalore | |||
Career statistics | ||||
Competition | Test | FC | LA | T20 |
Matches | 11 | 75 | 61 | 30 |
Runs scored | 1017 | 6,021 | 2,735 | 344 |
Batting average | 67.8 | 59.02 | 56.97 | 18.55 |
100s/50s | 4/1 | 19/22 | 8/17 | 0/0 |
Top score | 206* | 352 | 158* | 45* |
Balls bowled | – | 153 | – | – |
Wickets | – | 5 | – | – |
Bowling average | – | 16.60 | – | – |
5 wickets in innings | – | 0 | – | – |
10 wickets in match | – | 0 | n/a | n/a |
Best bowling | – | 2/4 | – | – |
Catches/stumpings | 9/– | 44/– | 23/– | 13/– |
Cheteshwar Arvind Pujara (born 25 January 1988, in Rajkot, Gujarat) is an Indian Test cricketer. He is a right-handed batsman who plays for Saurashtra in domestic cricket and for the Royal Challengers Bangalore in Indian Premier League (IPL). He holds the record of scoring three triple centuries within a span of one month, although only the last of these was in a first-class match.[1] He was a part of the India A team which toured England in the 2010 summers, and was the highest scorer of the tour. In October 2011, the BCCI awarded him a C-grade national contract. Known to have a sound technique and the temperament required to play long innings, he is one of the contenders for a spot in the Indian middle order after the retirement of Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman.
His Test comeback came against New Zealand in August 2012, scoring a century. He made his first double hundred against England at Ahmedabad in November 2012[3] and followed up with another double hundred against Australia in March 2013.[4] In the 2012 NKP Salve Challenger Trophy, he was the highest scorer with two centuries and one half century.He became one of the fastest batsman to reach 1000 runs in Test cricket in just 11 matches and his 18th Test Innings.
Test career
Pujara was selected for the Indian squad for the 2 match home Test series against Australia in 2010, replacing Yuvraj Singh. He made his debut in the second Test of the series on 9 October 2010 at Bangalore after both Gautam Gambhir and VVS Laxman were down with injuries sustained in the First Test. While Laxman was off the field injured in the First Test, Pujara took two catches at silly point as a substitute. In his first Test innings, Pujara scored four runs before getting leg before wicket to Mitchell Johnson on the third ball he faced. In the second innings, Pujara was sent up the order at number three in place of Rahul Dravid in a tactical change by captain MS Dhoni. With India needing 207 runs to win, he made 72 before being bowled by an arm ball from Nathan Hauritz.
On 23 August 2012, he made his first international Test century against New Zealand in Hyderabad. His highest score in Test cricket is his double century against England. . It his second 150 plus score in the six Test matches that he has played. After the knock in what Pujara said was his "second debut",[citation needed] he became a regular in the Indian Test squad. He is yet to play for India in any of the shorter forms of the game. He registered his third century against England in the second Test at Mumbai; this was his second successive hundred.
He became the 2nd fastest Indian to get to 1000 Test runs, during the course of his double hundred against Australia in March 2013, at Hyderabad, where he put on a 370-run 2nd wicket partnership with Murali Vijay. Only Vinod Kambli was faster. Pujara is also the 12th fastest of all-time.In terms of number of test(11 matches) he joined the legendary Sunil Gavaskar for the quickest to reach the landmark by an Indian.
IPL career
Pujara played for the KKR in the first three seasons of the IPL. In the 2011 players' auction, he was bought by the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). He turned up for the RCB for the fourth season of the IPL before injuring his knee in a match against Kochi Tuskers Kerala. The injury kept him out of the action for nearly a year before he returned to domestic cricket at the end of the year.
International centuries
- Test centuries
| Cheteshwar Pujara's Test Centuries | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Runs | Balls | 4s | 6s | Against | Venue | Year | Result |
| 1 | 159 | 306 | 19 | 1 |  New Zealand | Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, Uppal, Hyderabad, India | 2012 | India won by an innings and 115 runs |
| 2 | 206 | 389 | 21 | 0 |  England | Sardar Patel Stadium, Motera, Ahmedabad, India | 2012 | India won by 9 wickets |
| 3 | 135 | 350 | 12 | 0 | England | Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, India | 2012 | England won by 10 wickets |
| 4 | 204 | 341 | 30 | 1 |  Australia | Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, Uppal, Hyderabad, India | 2013 | India won by an innings and 135 runs |
