Unsold in IPL for last four seasons, India’s Test No. 3 Cheteshwar Pujara answered his critics with the bat by slamming an unbeaten century (100* off 61) for Saurashtra in their opening match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy against Railways at Indore on Thursday.
Going against his nature and popular perceptions, Pujara batted through the innings to help Saurashtra post 188 for 3, batting first. The Player of the series in India’s 2-1 Test triumph in Australia, Pujara, took the attack to the opposition right from the word go. His attacking instincts along with opening partner Harvik Desai took Saurashtra past 50 in 4.4 overs.
Pujara brought up his fifty in 29 balls and continued to score at a steady pace to bring up his maiden T20 hundred off 61 balls in the last over of Saurashtra’s innings. Pujara hit 14 fours and a six, scoring at a strike rate of 163.93.
Pujara's maiden T20 ton also made him one of the only four Indian cricketers to have a first-class 300, a List A 150 and a T20 100 to his name. Virender Sehwag, Rohit Sharma and Mayank Agarwal are the other three cricketers.
Pujara did not find a buyer at last month's IPL auction despite having been available for a base price of Rs 50 lakh. His last IPL match was way back in 2014 for Kings XI Punjab. He did not find a buyer ever since Kings XI released him after that season.
This, however, does not mean Pujara will be out of action. He will be busy County Cricket during IPL 2019 like he did in the previous season too. "I'll be playing some first-class cricket back home. During IPL, I might be playing county cricket,” Pujara had said in the lead-up to the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20s.
Pujara’s IPL record – 390 runs at a strike rate of 99 – may not be the most encouraging one but his domestic T20 record paints a different picture. Pujara has 1196 runs in 59 T20s with an average of 26. The strike rate of 105 though is a concern. But Pujara gave glimpses during the Syed ushtaq Ali match against Railways of what he can do in the shortest format of the game too.