Exhibiting his hunger for runs to the national selectors just two weeks ahead of the five-match India vs England Test series at home, Cheteshwar Pujara has struck his 17th first-class double century in Ranji Trophy 2024. Pujara remained unbeaten on 243 off 356 balls on Day 3 of the Saurashtra vs Jharkhand encounter in Rajkot - his side's very first match of this season. (More Cricket News)
Saurashtra declared their first innings on 578 for 4. Prerak Mankad hit an unbeaten 104 as the two batters made merry against the Jharkhand attack.
With this daddy double ton, Pujara has equalled Herbert Sutcliffe and Mark Ramprakash in terms of first-class double hundreds. He is only behind the great Sir Donald Bradman (37), Wally Hammond (36) and Elias Hendren (22) now in the overall list.
Pujara's mammoth knock was his eighth double century in the Ranji Trophy, where he is second only to Paras Dogra, who has nine. The phlegmatic batter also has three first-class triple tons, the last of which came against West Indies A in October 2013.
Pujara, who was not selected for the just-concluded India vs South Africa Test series, will hope his superlative knock puts him in strong contention for the red-ball series against England, which starts on January 25 in Hyderabad.
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The doughty Pujara last played a Test match in June - the World Test Championship final against Australia at The Oval - in which he scored 14 and 27, as India lost by a whopping 209 runs.
Post that, Rohit Sharma's team has played two Test series of two games each, in the West Indies in July 2023 and then against the Proteas. Talented young batter Shubman Gill dropped down to No. 3 in all those Tests with Yashasvi Jaiswal opening the batting.
After the ongoing Ranji match, Pujara will next play the game against Haryana from January 12 to 15, and the India squad for England Tests might be announced after that. Saurashtra's third-round fixture is against Vidarbha from January 19 to 22.
