A CAREER IN NUMBERS
Pujara is one of only three batters to bat all five days of a Test © Getty
A look at all the key numbers from Chetheshwar Pujara’s professional career.
7195 runs scored by Cheteshwar Pujara in Tests, making him one of the eight India batters to aggregate over 7000 runs in the format, after Sachin Tendulkar (15921), Rahul Dravid (13265), Sunil Gavaskar (10122), Virat Kohli (9230), VVS Laxman (8781), Virender Sehwag (8503) and Sourav Ganguly (7212). He is one of the 14 cricketers to have represented India in over 100 Tests (103).
6529 of Pujara’s Test runs came at No.3, featuring 18 hundreds; only Rahul Dravid exceeded both those counts for India (10524 runs with 28 hundreds). Overall, only four other batters have aggregated 6000-plus runs from one-drop in Tests till date: Kumar Sangakkara (11679), Ricky Ponting (9904), Kane Williamson (8658) and Hashim Amla (7993).
18 – Pujara had a fine start to his Test career, and took just 18 innings to complete 1000 runs in the format, which remains the third-fastest for India after Vinod Kambli (14 innings) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (16 innings).
11- Pujara featured in India’s 11 Test wins in SENA countries (South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia), the most for anyone, followed by 10 each for Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant, Jasprit Bumrah and KL Rahul. His standout performances in these games include match-winning hundreds in Adelaide and Melbourne on the 2018/19 Australia tour and gritty fifties in Johannesburg (2018) and in Brisbane (2020/21), among others.
525balls faced by Pujara during his 202 against Australia in Ranchi in 2017 is the most by an Indian batter in a Test innings, 30 balls clear of the next best. In fact, he is one of the only four batters to have faced 500-plus balls in a Test innings against Australia, alongside Wally Hammond (thrice), Len Hutton and Ken Barrington (where data is available).
Most balls faced in a Test innings (India)
Player Runs Minutes Balls faced SR Opposition Venue, Year Cheteshwar Pujara 202 672 525 38.47 Australia Ranchi, 2017 Rahul Dravid 270 740 495 54.54 Pakistan Rawalpindi, 2004 Navjot Singh Sidhu 201 673 491 40.93 West Indies Port of Spain, 1997 Ravi Shastri 206 572 477 43.18 Australia Sydney, 1992 Sunil Gavaskar 172 708 472 36.44 England Bengaluru, 1981
1258 balls faced by Pujara in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2018/19 in Australia, the second-most by an India batter in a four-match Test series, after 1336 by Rahul Dravid on the 2002 England tour. These two also account for the only two instances of an India No.3 scoring three (or more) hundreds in a Test series (home or away).
4 instances of an India opener carrying his bat through a completed innings in Tests, Pujara accounting for the most recent of those – an unbeaten 145* against Sri Lanka at SSC, Colombo in 2015. Sunil Gavaskar (vs Pakistan, Faisalabad, 1983), Virender Sehwag (vs Sri Lanka, Galle, 2008) and Rahul Dravid (vs England, The Oval, 2011) are the other Indians in this list.
3 instances of an India player batting on all five days of a Test match. Coincidentally, all three came at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata: ML Jaisimha vs Australia in 1960, Ravi Shastri vs England in 1984 and Pujara vs Sri Lanka in 2017. Overall, 13 batters have done so till date in Test cricket – Usman Khawaja being the most recent one – in the Ashes 2023 opener at Edgbaston.
A gripping match-up
1296 – One of the most frequent deliveries in Test cricket in recent years was Nathan Lyon to Cheteshwar Pujara. Pujara fell to Lyon 13 times – the most he did to any bowler and the most the Australia off-spinner has dismissed anyone in Tests. The right-hander averaged a healthy 43.92 against Lyon, the contest often being a fascinating sub-plot in Tests between the two sides in recent times.
Most balls faced vs a bowler in Tests since 2000
Player Bowler Runs Balls SR Dismissals Ave Dot% Joe Root Ravindra Jadeja 602 1308 46.02 9 66.88 70.3 Cheteshwar Pujara Nathan Lyon 571 1296 44.05 13 43.92 73.5 Kumar Sangakkara Saeed Ajmal 531 1224 43.38 4 132.75 71.4 Virat Kohli Nathan Lyon 573 1106 51.8 7 81.85 66.1 Steven Smith Stuart Broad 577 1101 52.4 11 52.45 74.2 Steven Smith James Anderson 479 1086 44.1 8 59.87 78.1
A first-class giant
21301 runs aggregated by Pujara in first-class cricket with 66 hundreds, which is only bettered by Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid among Indians.
Indian batters with most first-class runs
Player Matches Innings Runs Ave 100s Sunil Gavaskar 348 563 25834 51.46 81 Sachin Tendulkar 310 490 25396 57.84 81 Rahul Dravid 298 497 23794 55.33 68 Cheteshwar Pujara 278 457 21301 51.82 66 VVS Laxman 267 436 19730 51.64 55 Wasim Jaffer 260 421 19410 50.67 57
Pujara was a part of five Ranji finals for Saurashtra; they finished runners-up in 2012/13, 2015/16 and 2018/19 and won the title in 2019/20 and 2022/23. He has the most runs (7774 at 62.19) and hundreds (25) for Saurashtra in first-class cricket.
18 first-class double centuries by Pujara is the fourth-most in the format ever, after Sir Don Bradman (37), Wally Hammond (36) and Patsy Hendren (22). The second-most by an Indian is 11 by Vijay Merchant.
3first-class triple tons by Pujara is the joint-most by an Indian in first-class cricket, alongside his Saurashtra teammate Ravindra Jadeja.
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