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India's star batter Cheteshwar Pujara received a grand ‘Guard of Honour’ by his teammates and Australian players on his 100th Test match. Pujara stepped into the field amid a thunderous ovation of the players who cheered him on completing a rare milestone during the second Test of the Border-Gavaskar series at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Friday (February 17).
The 35-year-old was also felicitated by India's legendary cricketer Sunil Gavaskar who presented a special cap to Pujara to honour his 100th Test followed by a very earnest speech on the batter's contributions for India. Pujara's family was also in attendance to celebrate this special occasion.
BCCI took to twitter to post the video of Pujara's special moment.
Here's the video…
Pujara became only the 13 Indian player to play 100 matches in the longest format of the game. The Saurashtra batter has also become only the second cricketer in the current Indian team to play 100 Tests beside Virat Kohli who reached the landmark milestone in Test against Sri Lanka in Mohali in March 2022.
"Welcome to the 100th Test club, and I wish and pray you that you become the first Indian to score a big hundred in your 100th Test and lay the foundation for yet another win in Delhi. You've taken the blows, you got up, and you made bowlers earn your wicket. Every single run you scored is a big plus for India. You've been a role model for what hard work, self-belief, and dreams can do," said Gavaskar who featured in 125 Tests.
Talking about Pujara's profile so far, in 21 matches versus Australia, he has 1900 runs at an average of 52.77 including 5 hundreds and 10 fifties.
Overall, Pujara has an outstanding record in 99 Tests, having scored 7021 runs at 44.15 with the help of 19 hundreds and 34 half-centuries.
On his special day Pujara said," It is an honour to receive this cap from you, legends like you have inspired me (On getting the cap from Sunny G). I wanted to play for India as a youngster but I never thought I'd get to 100 Test matches. Test cricket is the ultimate format for me, it challenges you just like life. To all the youngsters, I'd encourage y'all to work hard to play Test cricket for India. I'd like to thank my wife, my family, everyone in BCCI and all my teammates who've supported me throughout this journey".
Indian players to have played 100 Tests
Sachin Tendulkar 200 Test
Rahul Dravid 163 Test
VVS Laxman 134 Test
Anil Kumble 132 Test
Kapil Dev 131 Test
Sunil Gavaskar 125 Test
Dilip Vengsarkar 116 Test
Sourav Ganguly 113 Test
Virat Kohli 105 Test
Ishant Sharma 105 Test
Harbhajan Singh 103 Test
Virender Sehwag 103 Test
Cheteshwar Pujara 100 Test (Today)
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