Cheteshwar Pujara has achieved a rare feat on the fifth day of the first test against Sri Lanka at Eden Gardens on Monday, as he became only the third Indian cricketer, after head coach Ravi Shastri and ML Jaisimha, to have batted on all five days of a Test match.
He was the difference between a complete batting collapse and India putting up a respectable total in the first innings, as he showed his class in testing conditions.
On Day 1, Pujara came out to bat on the second ball of the match after KL Rahul was dismissed for a golden duck. He managed to score eight off 32 balls before rain brought an early end to the day’s play. On Day 2, rain again played spoilsport with Pujara scoring 39 off 70 balls to remain unbeaten on 47 at stumps. He was dismissed for 52 on the third day, meaning that he added just five runs on the day. With Sri Lanka being bowled out for 294 just a little after lunch on Day 4, the Indians got to bat again. It seemed that KL Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan would take India to end of the day without any damage but the latter fell six short of his hundred and that brought Pujara to the crease.
Pujara faced nine balls and scored two runs before bad light stopped play. The stylish right-hander was dismissed by a brilliant Suranga Lakmal delivery on 22, meaning he scored 20 on the final day of the Test.
Pujara is the ninth batsman overall in the world to accomplish this rare feat, which was last achieved in 2012 by South African Alviro Peterson.
