Cheteshwar Pujara Wins ESPNcricinfo Test Batting Performance Of The Year

Cheteshwar Pujara starred for India during the historic tour of Australia. In a series where most of the batsmen including Virat Kohli struggled to perform consistently, Pujara looked class apart.

While no other batsmen in the series could score more than 350 runs, Pujara scored a staggering 521 runs with the help of three centuries as India beat Australia 2-1 to register their first-ever Test series win on the Australian soil. He faced a staggering 1,258 balls in the series which is the most by an Indian in a Test series in Australia surpassing Rahul Dravid’s 1203 balls in the 2003/04 tour. The Saurashtra star batted approximately 1869 minutes in this Test series which is the third most by an Indian in a Test series.

Pujara had started the tour on a brilliant note by scoring a fighting ton in the first Test in Adelaide to set the tone for the remainder of the series. The Saurashtra star scored 123 as India beat Australia by 31 runs in a thrilling game to take the lead.

Virat Kohli’s decision to bat first in Adelaide completely backfired as Australia pacers made light work of the visitors’ top-order. KL Rahul and Murali Vijay were back in the hut with just 15 runs on the board. 4 runs later, Pat Cummins sent back Virat Kohli to put Australia well on top. Ajinkya Rahane also failed to get going as India found themselves 4 down for just 41.  At that stage, even 150-mark was looking like a distant dream.

However, Cheteshwar Pujara struck a defiant century to rescue India.

Pujara and Rohit Sharma added 45 runs for the fifth wicket to stop the rot for a while. But Rohit departed at a precarious time and Pant also failed to provide much support to Pujara as the scoreboard read 127 for 6. However, Pujara held firm from one end and shared crucial stands with the tail-enders to reach his 16th Test century.

He added 62 runs with R Ashwin before Pat Cummins dismissed the latter for 25.  Pujara and Ishant Sharma then took the score past the 200-run mark. The duo added 21 runs before Mitchell Starc cleaned up Sharma. At that stage, it looked like Pujara would run out of partners.

However, a six and a four off Hazlewood took him to 99 before a couple helped him score a memorable century. It was his first ton in Australia.

Pujara has now won the Best Test batting performance of 2018 for his knock in Adelaide. He pipped the likes of Virat Kohli,  AB de Villiers and Kusal Mendis to the award.

On the first day of the Test series against Australia, Che Pujara stood up to the Aussie attack and set the tone for a historic series win for India

His 123 in Adelaide is adjudged the best Test batting performance of 2018 by our juryhttps://t.co/KLvC3LwKYJ #ESPNcricinfoAwards pic.twitter.com/OXiOXsLoZi

— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) February 25, 2019