Cheteshwar Pujara scored the first century by an Indian batsman in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy as India reached 360/6 at stumps on the third day of the Ranchi Test on Saturday. India still trail Australia by 91 runs with Pujara (130 not out) and Wriddhiman Saha (18 not out) on crease, after Australia made 451 in the first innings.
India had resumed the day on 120 /1, with Murali Vijay and Pujara building a steady partnership of 102. However, Vijay fell right at the stroke of lunch, skipping forward to a Steve O’Keefe delivery and getting stumped for a well-composed 82.
Pujara then struck his 11th century in his 47th Test and his fourth this home season as he batted out the day to accumulate 130 runs in 328 balls, at a strike rate of just below 40. He struck 17 boundaries in his vigil at the crease, bringing up the ton with a classic cover drive off Pat Cummins.
For Australia, Cummins was the standout bowling performance as the comeback man picked three wickets throughout the day, to add to Rahul’s dismissal yesterday. The pacer also got the crucial wicket of Indian captain Virat Kohli, who came in to bat after spending a good part of two days off the field due to a shoulder injury sustained while fielding on the first day. But his poor run of form in the series continued, as he got out cheaply again. His 37-minute, 23-ball knock of 6 came to an end when Cummins caught him off guard immediately after the new ball was taken in the 81st over. Kohli tried the drive which kept low but it took an edge and went straight to second slip where Steve Smith held on.
Cummins 4/59 also included the key wickets Ajinkya Rahane (14) who tried to play an upper cut on a short ball that went straight to keeper Matthew Wade, as well as Ravichandran Ashwin (3) who was out in a similar fashion when a short ball grazed his glove. The umpire had initially given it not out, but a successful DRS review by Australia saw it overturned. Karun Nair (23) was the other Indian batsman to fall, when Josh Hazlewood cleaned his stumps with a peach of a revers swinging delivery.
India will have their task cut on the fourth day as they will aim to gain a good first innings lead while Australia will hope to wrap the lower-order quickly to press their advantage in the Test.
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