India's star batter Cheteshwar Pujara scripted history when he took the field in the second Test against Australia at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Friday (February 17). Pujara achieved a rare milestone of playing 100 Tests for India as he became only the 13 Indian player to enter the elite list. The 35-year-old 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.
India's legendary cricketer Sunil Gavaskar 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.
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".
Incidentally, Pujara had made his Test debut against Australia back in 2010 in Bengaluru and gave immediate notice of what was to come over the next decade. In the second innings of his debut Test, Pujara was promoted to No.3 ahead of Rahul Dravid, and scored a fluent 72 as India chased down 207 to win the series 2-0.
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.
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)
ALSO READ
