Cheteswhar Pujara continued his fine form and capped it off with a century in his last innings of the ongoing series against New Zealand with a 147-ball 100, helping India set a daunting target of 475.
As India were looking for quick runs on the morning of day four in Indore, Pujara — who started off quite slow — accelerated after the first hour, scoring twice as fast in the second half of his innings, laced with nine boundaries and a whole lot of hard-run singles and doubles.
A quick-fire century for Pujara!
His scores this series: 101*, 41, 4, 87, 78, 62.Well played, @cheteshwar1! pic.twitter.com/GCP6wY4yri
— ScoopWhoop News (@scoopwhoopnews) October 11, 2016
8th Test century for @cheteshwar1 followed by a declaration for India. #NZ need 475 runs to win #INDvNZ pic.twitter.com/mT3vRoG32w
— BCCI (@BCCI) October 11, 2016
Cheteshwar Pujara…
8th Test century2nd v N Zealand2nd in 2nd innings6th at home7th at #734th in fc cricket#IndvNZ
— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) October 11, 2016
One of India’s underrated batsmen, Pujara got his due on Twitter after a fantastic innings:
Very nice from @cheteshwar1. Icing on the cake. Been a good series for him.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) October 11, 2016
Shifted gears swiftly…played a different brand of cricket. Did what the team wanted. Reward–8th Test ton. Well played, Che Pujara #INDvNZ
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) October 11, 2016
There was a sense if inevitability about a @cheteshwar1 century so good has been his form this series. Terrific show by Indian batsmen again
— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) October 11, 2016
Good answer to critics @cheteshwar1 101 n.o in 148 is no slow-coach batting and that too on a day 4 Indian pitch. Also, running better
— Shekhar Gupta (@ShekharGupta) October 11, 2016
Spot on! #INDvNZ pic.twitter.com/P0Lspk9Cpw
— Cricking (@CricKingApp) October 11, 2016
Excellent Century By Cheteshwar Pujara, In Just 148 Balls. Really Impressive. Well Played Champ!#INDvsNZ #INDvNZ pic.twitter.com/1eVjT15SS5
— Sir Ravindra Jadeja (@SirJadejaaaa) October 11, 2016
Cheteshwar Pujara
First 50 runs: 96 balls.Last 51 runs: 51 balls.Well accelerated, Che. #INDvNZ
— Nikhil 🏏 (@CricCrazyNIKS) October 11, 2016
Pujara kar rahe Hai guzara bade aram se- @virendersehwag 😂 #INDvNZ
— Devdutt (@ApratimKheladu) October 11, 2016
xxx