Cheteshwar Pujara now holds the record for the most double-hundreds by an Indian in first-class cricket. He made his 12th on Thursday to go past the tally of Vijay Merchant, and in the process also regain some form in the lead-up to India’s next Test assignment against Sri Lanka in November.
Pujara began the day on 125 and made smooth progress to finish on 205 off 355 balls with a whopping 28 fours. For most of the day, his partner was Chirag Jani, who struck a century of his own during sixth wicket stand of 210. On the back of their effort, Saurashtra declared on 553 for 9. Jharkhand seamers Ashish Kumar and Varun Aaron bowled more than 30 overs each for three wickets. The left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem toiled had for figures of 51-9-183-2.
India’s team management would also be pleased that Pujara is among the runs again considering he had a lean time in the English county circuit over the last month or so: eight innings for a top score of 34. His Ranji season began with 35 and 15 but now has assumed the proportions usual for him – he broke a record that had stood for more than 70 years.
Saurashtra’s day only got better when left-arm seamer Jaydev Unadkad bowled the Jharkhand openers cheaply to end the day with a substantial lead of 501 runs.
Source: ESPN Crickinfo