Cheteshwar Pujara slams third ton in Royal London Cup for Sussex, continues to sparkle in white-ball format

Hove (UK), Aug 14: Senior India batter Cheteshwar Pujara continues his good form in the ongoing English summer and piling up runs in one format after the other. After dominating the English County Championships 2022 with his bat, the right-handed batter is scoring heavily in List A cricket as well.

In the ongoing Royal London One-Day Cup 2022, Pujara is leading Sussex from the front and slammed back-to-back centuries in the tournament. He smashed his maiden one-day century from Warwickshire on August 12 and two days later, the right-handed batter played a mammoth 174-run knock against Surrey on August 14.

Pujara shined bright in County Championships

Earlier last month, the Rajkot batter slammed a double century against Middlesex on July 20 at Lord's. It was the third double century for the right-handed batter from India and 16th in first-class cricket overall.

Pujara is now left behind all-time greats like CB Fry, Jack Hobbs, and Graeme Hick with his 16th double ton in first class.

Players ahead of Pujara with most FC double hundreds:

37 - Don Bradman

36 - Walter Hammond

22 - Percy Hendren

17 - Herbert Sutcliffe & Mark Ramprakash

The 34-year-old - who is Sussex's stand-in skipper - reached the milestone in 368 balls and batted for a mammoth 498 minutes at the crease. The Saurashtra cricketer scored 240 off 403 deliveries in the game and once again proved his prolific run-scoring ability.

By May end, Pujara had slammed four consecutive centuries for Sussex, which is his debut season for the County side.

Century against Middlesex

On May 7, Pujara notched up a century off 133 deliveries on day three of the match against Middlesex. Pujara's knock helped his team post 236 for three in 51 overs at stumps. The Indian batter was unbeaten at 125 off 149 deliveries. His knock was laced with 16 fours and two sixes.

Double Century against Durham

Earlier on April 30, Pujara had converted his third century for Sussex into his second double ton in the ongoing tournament when he slammed a double century against Durham. It was the second double hundred for Pujara in three games.

The right-handed Saurashtra batsman is making most of his county stint in his debut season for Sussex. On day three of the match, Pujara resumed batting from 128 off 198 deliveries and went on to add 75 more runs to his overnight total. He scored 203 off 334 deliveries and smashed 24 boundaries.

Pujara's marathon innings came to an end for 203 when he was stumped by Ned Eckersley off Liam Travaskis. However, his knock helped Sussex post 538 in 153.5 overs in their first innings. Pujara remained unbeaten on 128 off 198 deliveries, hitting 16 boundaries before the stumps were called due to bad light on day two of the match. Sussex closed the day's play at 362 for 5 in 103 overs and Pujara's gritty knock helped his side take a substantial lead of 139 runs against Durham, who were all out on 223 in their first innings.

Pujara, who is in sparkling form, has so far scored four hundreds, including three double centuries in his six innings in the tournament. Making his debut for Sussex, Pujara had scored 6 and an unbeaten 201 to help his side draw the match against Derbyshire.

In Sussex's 34-run loss to Worcestershire, he scored 109 in the first innings, followed by 12 in the second essay.

Cheteshwar Pujara runs in the 2022 County Championship Season:

Match 1: 6 & 201* vs Derby

Match 2: 109 & 12 vs Worcester

Match 3: 203 vs Durham

Match 4: 16 & 170* vs Middlesex

Match 5: 3 vs Leicestershire

Match 6: 46 vs Leicestershire

Match 7: 231 & 2 vs Middlesex

Match 8: 49 & 46*

List A stats:

Match 1: 9 vs Nottinghamshire

Match 2: 63 vs Gloucestershire

Match 3: 14 vs Leicestershire

Match 4: 107 vs Warwickshire

Match 5: 174 vs Surrey

Match 6: 49* vs Durham

Match 7: 66 vs Somerset

Match 8: 132 vs Middlesex

Runs in the County Championships helped Pujara make a comeback in the Indian Test side and he played the Edgbaston Test, the rescheduled fifth Test against England, last month. Team India lost the match in which Pujara scored 13 and 66 in the two innings respectively.

The Ben Stokes-led side won the game by seven wickets as centuries from Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root on the final day of the match helped the hosts chase down a record 378 in the fourth innings. The series ended in a 2-2 draw.