On Sunday, January 21, veteran batsman Cheteshwar Pujara reached a significant milestone when he became just the fourth cricketer from India to reach 20,000 runs in first-class matches, which include Tests and domestic red-ball competitions. Pujara accomplished the feat while representing Saurashtra versus Vidarbha in the third round of the Ranji Trophy 2024 at Nagpur's VCA Stadium.
In the Ranji Trophy match against Vidarbha, Cheteshwar Pujara needed to score 96 runs. He accomplished this feat with 43 in the first innings and a vital 66 in the second. Pujara is currently leading the Ranji Trophy campaign in excellent form. He started the season off against Jharkhand in Rajkot, going 243 without a loss, and went on to make 49 and 43 against Haryana in Saurashtra in the second match.
Pujara has smashed 7195 runs at an average of 44.36 in 103 Test matches for India. In first-class cricket, he has amassed 61 hundreds and 77 fifties. Pujara has also been a prolific run scorer in domestic cricket.
Cheteshwar Pujara's 66 was a vital contribution as Saurashtra established a tough mark for Vidarbha on the difficult Nagpur ground. While opener Kevin Jivrajani got 57, Vishvaranjsinh Jadeja top-scored with 79 as Saurashtra produced 244 to set a target of 373 runs for Vidarbha in the last session. Following their first-inning century of 206 runs, Saurashtra dismissed Vidarbha for 78 runs in their 1st innings.
| PLAYER | MATCHES | RUNS | AVERAGE | HUNDREDS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sunil Gavaskar | 348 | 25,834 | 51.46 | 81 |
| Sachin Tendulkar | 310 | 25,396 | 57.84 | 81 |
| Rahul Dravid | 298 | 23,794 | 55.33 | 68 |
| Cheteshwar Pujara | 260 | 20,013 | 51.96* | 61 |
With his steady play during the current season, Cheteshwar Pujara appears to be holding the attention of the national selectors. Following the World Test Championship final, the top hitter was benched, and he missed India's crucial away tours to the West Indies and South Africa in the 2023–25 World Test Championship cycle.
Pujara was not included in the team for the forthcoming five-match series against England, which begins in Hyderabad on January 25. The series consists of two Tests matches. Shubman Gill has been batting at No. 3 in Pujara's place, but the recently named Gujarat Titans skipper has had difficulty getting going at the vital batting position.
Ajinkya Rahane was also slated for elimination, but unlike Pujara, the Mumbai captain was nrought for the West Indies series before being benched once more for the South Africa tour.
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