India's Test specialist Cheteshwar Pujara roared with a hat-trick of centuries for Sussex against Durham in the County Championships Division 2 match on Friday (April 29). His back-to-back stellar show with the bat is sending the Board of Control for Cricket in Indian (BCCI) a reminder that he has finished yet and a lot of cricket is left in him.
Pujara, who is still intact on the crease, reached the three-figure-mark in mere 162 balls as by the time he scored 107 off 167 balls, he blasted 13 fours to help his side take a substantial lead against Durham, who were all out on 223 in their first innings.
The out-of-favour India batter, who is in sparkling form, is making most of his county stint. He now has scored three hundreds including a double century in his five innings.
The impressive knock follows his blistering 101 off 184 against Worcestershire on Day 3 of a County Championship, Division 2 game. He was eventually dismissed for a 206-ball 109.
He had earlier scored an unbeaten double against Derbyshire. Pujara became only the second Indian to score a double-century in the County Championship. Mohammad Azharuddin was the first, having scored 212 against Leicestershire in 1991 and 205 against Durham in 1994, both for Derbyshire.
Pujara is playing in England after failing to find buyers at the Indian Premier League mega auction, which was held in February 2022. Pujara did not travel to England for a county stint last year, despite India's tour of England, as he was bought by Chennai Super Kings at the IPL 2021 auction.
The veteran Indian batter was suffering from a form slump and owing to this was also denied a place in India's Test squad. While his last international century came against Australia in January 2019 in Sydney, he managed just 124 runs in six innings in his most recent Test series against South Africa with an average of 20.66.
His poor form led to his exclusion from India's Test squad for the Sri Lanka series. He has been averaging 26.29 since the beginning of 2020 in the longest format.
