Pujara hits first Test hundred in more than three years

Pujara had last struck a hundred in the format in January 2019 against Australia in Sydney and endured a spell of 52 consecutive innings without a triple-digit score.

Cheteshwar Pujara scored his 19th Test career hundred against Bangladesh in the first test match. | Photo Credit: AP

Cheteshwar Pujara hit his first Test hundred after 1443 days during the first Test between India and Bangladesh in Chattogram on Friday.

Pujara hit 13 fours on his way to a 19th Test match hundred. With the Indian team looking to declare its second innings at a lead nearing 500, Pujara accelerated in the latter part of his stay to manage the hundred.

Coming off just 130 deliveries, this was Pujara’s fastest Test hundred. His first 50 runs took 87 deliveries while the second 50 came in 43 balls.

The 34-year-old remained unbeaten at 102 runs when captain KL Rahul declared the innings with a lead of 512 runs. Virat Kohli was on the other end, batting on 19 runs off 29 deliveries.

Pujara had last struck a hundred in the format in January 2019 against Australia in Sydney. His last Test appearance came in July in the rescheduled fifth Test against England in Birmingham. He registered scores of 13 and 66 in that game.

The Birmingham Test marked Pujara’s return to the Test team after he was dropped for the two-match series against Sri Lanka in March following a slump in form.

On the comeback trail, Pujara had a rewarding season in the County Championship Division Two, where he made eight hundreds - including three doubles - for Sussex across formats in 2022. He was Sussex’s leading run-scorer in the Championship, with an aggregate of 1094 at 109.4 across 13 innings, and was the second-highest scorer across the 50-over Royal London Cup, making three hundreds as Sussex reached the semifinals.