ENG vs IND: Cheteshwar Pujara misses a close century after marking comeback at Headingley

After a string of low scores, Cheteshwar Pujara brought his A-game out and played an innings of substance in the ongoing third Test against England. Coming to bat at number three in the third innings, ‘India’s modern-day wall’ didn’t put a foot wrong and put up a batting exhibition. At stumps on Day 3, he was unbeaten at 91 and his much-awaited century was on the cards.

On Day 4, however, Pujara couldn’t add a single run to his overnight score and fell prey to Ollie Robinson. Hence, he fell nine runs of short of what would have been a splendid hundred. Speaking of the dismissal, it was the fourth over of the day and Robinson was operating with the second new ball. The right-arm pacer bowled a sharp inswinger that completely outfoxed Pujara.

England’s brilliant review send Cheteshwar Pujara’s back

The right-handed batter didn’t even attempt to play the ball, thinking it’s far away from the stumps. His leave, however, proved to be costly as the ball smashed the pad, and Pujara was plumped in front. Notably, umpire Richard Kettleborough didn’t adjudge him out at first. England had to take the review to get the decision in their favour.

The hawkeye showed the ball would have hit the off-stump and the decision was reversed. This way Pujara’s resilience came to an end. However, nothing can deny that the 33-year-old played a sensational knock. It was a test of Pujara’s character and he was short of runs lately. Moreover, he bagged a duck in the first innings.

After conceding a 352-run lead, India lost opener KL Rahul with just 34 runs on the board. However, Pujara came to bat at number three and made the England bowlers work hard. Surprisingly, the veteran was more aggressive than usual as he played some attacking shots up front. However, his wait for a Test ton continued as Robinson accounted for his wicket.

Meanwhile, Pujara’s wicket can well prove to be the decisive point of the game as India are still trailing by over 100 runs with seven wickets in hand. Hence, it would be interesting to see how the remaining contest pans put. It has to be noted that India are 1-0 up after the first two games of the five-match series.