#HBD Pujara: A look at his incredible Test stats

On this day, January 25: Indian batter Cheteshwar Pujara was born. He made his first-class debut for Saurashtra in December 2005 and played for them till the 2024-25 Ranji Trophy season. He has also represented

Sussex in the County Championship. Pujara began his international career that in October 2010. He made his Test debut against Australia in Bengaluru in late 2010, and was part of many series wins against them, most memorably in 2018/19 and 2020/21 in Australia, and in early 2023 at home. He was the Player of the Series in the 2018/19 series – India’s first Test series win on Australian soil – after scoring 521 runs in the four Tests.

Test cricket was the format that he was at his absolute best, with 7195 runs at an average of 43.60, most of them coming from No. 3 after he succeeded former India captain Rahul Dravid in the position. He struck 19 centuries and 35 half-centuries, and scored a century against each of the Test-playing nations he faced barring Afghanistan, who he played only once. He scored five centuries each against Australia and England, and four against Sri Lanka.

Pujara in his remarkable career played 103 Tests and five ODIs for India. He made his ODI debut in August 2013 but he could not do much as he played few games and scored only 54 runs. In the IPL, he played for three teams starting wit Kolkata Knight Riders in 2010, he was then part of Royal Challengers Bengaluru from 2011 to 2013 and Kings XI Punjab in 2014.

He was also part of the Chennai Super Kings set-up in 2021 but didn’t get a game. In domestic circuit, he last played a 50-over game in December 2023 and a T20 in November 2022. His contributions to the Indian Test side has been phenomenal and at the Number 3 position he was known for his grit, courage and patience. Cheteshwar Pujara was a treasure to Indian cricket.