Ranji Trophy 2024: Cheteshwar Pujara continues golden run with second ton of the season against Rajasthan

Cheteshwar Pujara continued his golden run in the Ranji Trophy 2024 as he scored a magnificent 110 for Saurashtra against Rajasthan on Day 1 of their sixth fixture in Jaipur. The 36-year-old walked in to bat with his team reeling at 33/2 with Kevin Jivrajani (0 off 6) and Vishvaraj Jadeja (22 off 46) back in the pavilion. The matters got worse for Saurashtra as Harvik Desai (21 off 80) also returned to the pavilion leaving his team on 74/3.

After three quick blows, Pujara did the repair job along with Sheldon Jackson as the duo added 168 runs for the fourth wicket. The veteran batter raced his way to 110 with the help of nine boundaries, however, he, unfortunately, got out on the last ball of the day trapped in front of the stumps by Ajay Singh.

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As a result, Saurashtra finished Day 1 on 242/4 with Sheldon Jackson unbeaten on 78* (176). Notably, it was Pujara’s second century of the season as he had earlier slammed an unbeaten 243* against Jharkhand in his first outing of the season.

Courtesy of his marvellous form, he finds himself on the third spot in the list of the leading run scorers of the season with 648 runs to his name from nine innings at an average of 81 with two hundreds and two fifties. The Gujarat-born batter finds himself out of the Indian team as he last played in the World Test Championship final 2023 against Australia at The Oval.

Pujara would hope for Team India comeback on the back of Ranji performance

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He could only register scores of 14 and 27 in the two innings respectively and hence was shown the axe. In 103 Tests played in his career, Pujara has scored 7,195 runs at an average of 43.60 with 19 hundreds and 35 fifties to his name. He’s best known for his sensational run in the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2018-19 where he finished as the leading run scorer with 521 runs to his name from seven innings at an average of 74.42 with three hundreds and a fifty.

Courtesy of his batting display, India managed to win their first Test series on Australian soil, triumphing by a margin of 2-1. Meanwhile, Pujara would hope to return to the Indian side on the back of a stellar Ranji performance as the men's selection committee is yet to name the squad for the last three Tests against England.