Cheteshwar Pujara Registers His Slowest Fifty Ever In Test Cricket

Cheteshwar Pujara registers his slowest fifty ever in test cricket in the second innings of the ongoing final Test between India and Australia for the Border Gavaskar Trophy. He has already registered three of his slowest fifties in this series but this will go down as one of the most crucial fifties in his career with the match hanging in balance on the final day.

An Important Fifty Under The Circumstances

India started the fifth day of the last test at Brisbane by losing Rohit Sharma early and it was in the young hands of Shubman Gill and the most experienced batsman in the lineup Cheteshwar Pujara to stitch a partnership which could defy Australia from winning the match as well as the series. Pujara and Gill batted played beautifully until a brilliant innings of 91 by Gill came to the end.

Ajinkya Rahane fell quickly and two wickets were lost in succession which meant that India will look to play out for a draw rather than trying for a win. But Rishabh Pant came out when the third wicket fell, it was important for Pujara and Pant to play out the overs until the tea break and they did that comfortably. After the tea break, Pujara moved to the half-century mark in 196 balls which is the slowest fifty in tests for him. His other two slowest fifties in the series came in the Sydney tests where he took 174 and 170 balls respectively

Cheteshwar Pujara Took A Lot Of Blows From The Australian Bowlers

Earlier in the day, Cheteswhwar Pujara was troubled a lot by the Australian bowlers and the surface did not help him either. The cracks opened up in the fifth day and the uneven bounce created a lot of doubts in the minds of the batsman whether to play the ball on the front foot or back foot. Pujara was hit on the elbow a lot of times and he took a lot of blows into his body to protect his wicket. He was hit in the helmet once but thankfully he got up and there weren’t any serious issues.

He battled the hard times and crumbled in pain when he was hit on the fingers which deserve a lot of credit. He got out on 56 from 211 deliveries but Rishabh Pant(76*) looks to have got control of the game, and he might take India to their first victory at the Gabba and to a series win