Cheteshwar Pujara clicked on yet another milestone on Day 3 of the fourth Test against Australia at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Saturday (March 11). On his 102nd Test, Pujara became the only active Indian cricketer to score 2000 runs against Australia in the Border-Gavaskar series history. Riding on this big milestone, Pujara became the fourth Indian batter after legendary Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, and current head coach Rahul Dravid to complete 2000 runs against Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy's history. He is sixth batter overall who has scored more than 2,000 runs in the Border-Gavaskar series. Pujara has played 24 Test matches against Australia spanning the 2017/18 to 2022/23 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. He was one of the most influential players from the side which became the first Indian team to defeat Australia Down Under in 2018/19.
Pujara paired up with Shubman Gill to steady India's boat after losing skipper Rohit Sharma on 35. Pujara (37 off 105) stitched a 97-run stand with Gill (91 off 181) for the second wickets as of 57 overs to race India to 171 in reply of Australia's massive first innings' 480. Before the fourth Test in Ahmedabad Pujara needed just nine runs to complete 2000 runs. On the third day of the test he -joined the elite club by scoring just 9 runs.
Beside crossing 2000 runs against Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy overall, Pujara also completed 1000 runs against the world's No. 1 Test team, Australia, in India. In this list as well, he is the fourth Indian after Tendulkar, Laxman, and Dravid.
Barring a crucial 59 against Australia in the Indore Test, Pujara had an unforgettable outing in of the ongoing Border Gavaskar series 2023 as he has only managed to score 7, 0, 31*, 1 so far.
India will reply on Pujara to score big if they want to go past Australia's 480 and put up a chance to win the fourth Test and clinch the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023 final which will be played at the Oval from June 7 to June 11. Meanwhile, Australia have already booked their WTC final berth after bulldozing India by nine wickets in the third Test. In case India fail to secure a win in the fourth Test then their chances will depend on the result of the two-match Test series between New Zealand and Sri Lanka.
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