India’s Cheteshwar Pujara became the fourth Indian batter to score 2,000-plus runs in men’s Test cricket against Australia during the course of his innings in the Ahmedabad Test on Saturday.
Pujara joined Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, and Rahul Dravid in an elite group of Indian batters.
Indians with 1,000-plus men's Test runs vs AUS
| Player | Mat | Inns | Runs | HS | Ave | 100 | 50 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tendulkar | 39 | 74 | 3630 | 241* | 55.00 | 11 | 16 |
| Laxman | 29 | 54 | 2434 | 281 | 49.67 | 6 | 12 |
| Dravid | 32 | 60 | 2143 | 233 | 39.68 | 2 | 13 |
| Pujara* | 24 | 43 | 2013 | 204 | 51.61 | 5 | 11 |
| Kohli* | 24 | 41 | 1793 | 169 | 44.82 | 7 | 5 |
| Sehwag | 22 | 43 | 1738 | 195 | 41.38 | 3 | 9 |
| Gavaskar | 20 | 31 | 1550 | 172 | 51.66 | 8 | 4 |
| Viswanath | 18 | 31 | 1538 | 161* | 53.03 | 4 | 9 |
| Ganguly | 24 | 44 | 1403 | 144 | 35.07 | 2 | 7 |
| Vijay | 15 | 28 | 1324 | 167 | 47.28 | 4 | 6 |
| Vengsarkar | 24 | 38 | 1304 | 164* | 38.35 | 2 | 7 |
| Rahane | 17 | 32 | 1090 | 147 | 37.58 | 2 | 5 |
Pujara, incidentally, began his career against Australia having made his Test debut in Bengaluru in October 2010. Since then he has gone to score more than 2000 runs over the years with many memorable knocks, home and away. His stoic defence during India’s back-to-back series wins in Australia will go down in the history books as some of the batting by an Asian batter Down Under.
A total of 24 batters in men’s Test cricket have scored 2,000-plus against Australia, with the majority of them unsurprisingly from England, given the frequency of Ashes matches. Tendulkar stands second in that list of all-time leading run-scorers against the Aussies.
In this Border Gavaskar Trophy edition, Pujara also crossed the landmark of 100 Tests in his career.
Pujara's Test record by opposition
| Grouping | Inns | Runs | HS | Ave | 100 | 50 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| v Australia | 43 | 2020 | 204 | 51.79 | 5 | 11 |
| v England | 49 | 1778 | 206* | 39.51 | 5 | 7 |
| v South Africa | 29 | 882 | 153 | 30.41 | 1 | 6 |
| v New Zealand | 23 | 867 | 159 | 39.40 | 2 | 4 |
| v Sri Lanka | 11 | 743 | 153 | 74.30 | 4 | 1 |
| v Bangladesh | 8 | 468 | 102* | 78.00 | 1 | 5 |
| v West Indies | 10 | 348 | 113 | 34.80 | 1 | 1 |
| v Afghanistan | 1 | 35 | 35 | 35.00 | 0 | 0 |
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