Pujara cracks century ahead of India team announcement for England series
Jaipur: Cheteshwar Pujara cracked a brilliant century against Rajasthan in a Ranji Trophy match and staked a claim for national selection ahead of the announcement of the national team for the ongoing England Test series.
The national selectors are set to meet to announce Tea India for the remaining three Test matches against England, and Pujara’s century could be in the reckoning.
Pujara scored an all-important 110 runs in 230 balls, decorated with 9 boundaries when Saurashtra were in deep trouble at 33/2.
With this, Pujara has amassed 732 runs in 10 innings this Ranji season, which also included an unbeaten 243 against Jharkhand in the Ranji Trophy.
He also became the fourth Indian batsman to score 20,000 runs in first-class cricket. Before him, Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid have achieved this milestone.
With a couple of young batsmen failing to put up a good show in the first two Tests, Pujara stands a good chance of making a comeback into the national team.
Pujara has scored 7195 Test runs in 103 Tests, which included 19 centuries.