Cheteshwar Pujara Runs In County Championship 2023: India Batter Slams Third Century In 4 Games For Sussex

Cheteshwar Pujara Scores in County Championship Division 2 in 2023: The India top-order batter in Test Cricket has scores of 115, 35, 18, 13, 151, 136 (in 1st innings vs Worcestershire) in competition.

India star batter Cheteshwar Pujara continues to score runs heaving in the ongoing County Championship Division Two in 2023. After slamming a ton in the previous game, Pujara has slammed third century in four games in the ongoing tournament.

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Playing against Worcestershire, the Saurashtra cricketer scored 136 off 189 balls on day two the match. He batted for 289 minutes and hit 19 boundaries and a six. He scored at a strike rate of 71.95.

Earlier, the right-handed batter - who is playing his second season for the County club played scored 151 off 238 deliveries in the first innings against Gloucestershire in the third match of season. Batting at a strike rate of 63.44, Pujara smashed 20 fours and two sixes in his knock which lasted for 339 minutes.

Cheteshwar Pujara Surpasses Wasim Jaffer In Most Centuries by Indians in First-Class Cricket

81 - Sachin Tendulkar & Sunil Gavaskar

68 - Rahul Dravid

60 - Vijay Hazare

59 - Cheteshwar Pujara*

57 - Waim Jaffer

Why Cheteshwar Pujara is the only active international criketer amongst successful players in First-Class Cricket?

Pujara is the only active cricketer in the top five as the right-handed batter from Saurashtra continues to play in the domestic circuit, when he's not on the national duty. The exceedingly talented cricketer continues to go under the grind when not playing international cricket and that is the reason why he's slammed 58 centuries in FC Cricket.

Pujara Slammed Century Against Durham

The right-handed batter slammed a first-class century playing for Sussex against Durham in his first game of the season, earlier in April and guided his team to a win.

The senior India Test regular, Pujara - who wasn't picked up by any IPL franchise at the auction ahead of the 2023 season - went to the UK to participate in the County Championship.

Leading Sussex from the front, the right-handed batter notched up a fine century off 134 balls on day two of the match. Pujara smashed consecutive boundaries against Brydon Carse to get to the triple-figure mark.

Pujara walked into the middle when his team was in a precarious situation. The scoreboard read 44 for 2 and rescued his team with a 112-run stand with Tom Clark.

The Saurashtra cricketer was dismissed for 115 after facing 163 deliveries when he was trapped leg before by medium pacer Ben Raine.

It was the partnership between Pujara and Clark which helped Sussex cut short Durham's lead. Durham were bowled out for 376 in the first innings and in response, Sussex reached 332/9 at stumps on Day 2 in 91 overs.

Matthew Potts (2/48), Ben Raine (2/32) and Matthew Kuhnemann (2/77) picked up a couple of wickets each for Durham. Kuhnemann - who played a big role in Australia's nine-wicket win against India in the third Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Indore - signed for Durham last week.

The left-arm orthodox-spinner picked up 5/16 in the first innings as the Rohit Sharma-led side, which also had Pujara, were bundled out for 109 on the opening day.

Sussex beat Durham

Pujara scored 35 runs in the second innings and his team ended up winning the match by 2 wickets. Oli Carter scored an unbeaten 33 as Sussex chased down the target to win the game.

Cheteshwar Pujara's Performance in County Championship 2023 Division 2

Match 1. Sussex vs Durham: 115 of 163 balls & 35 off 43 balls. Result: Sussex won by 2 wickets.

Match 2: Sussex vs Yorkshire 18 & 13

Match 3: Sussex vs Gloucestershire - 99* and counting

Pujara Warms Up Ahead of WTC Final

Pujara's good form and experience of batting in English conditions in the coming days will hold him in good stead ahead of the highly anticipated World Test Championships 2021-23 Final between India and Australia.

The WTC Final will be held at The Oval in London on June 7. Australia finished as the number one ranked team in the WTC 2021-23 Cycle while India came second after winning the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2-1 at home in March.

Pujara - who slammed five tons and amassed 1094 runs - was the fourth-highest run scorer in the County Championship last year. He played eight first-class matches for Sussex last year.