India vs Australia 3rd Test: Indian batsman Cheteshwar Pujara scored his 17th Test century on Thursday during the second day of the third Test against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). Pujara played a superb drive off Australian spinner Nathan Lyon towards the long on for a boundary to bring up his 17th Test century.
Pujara’s century helped him surpass former India captain Sourav Ganguly who has 16 Test centuries to his name. Pujara has now equaled former India cricketer VVS Laxman's tally of 17 Test centuries. Laxman played 225 innings for his 17 centuries while Pujara has played 112 Test innings.
The ton has earned Pujara praise from the cricketing world including the God of cricket, Sachin Tendulkar.
The master blaster wrote in his tweet, “This century by @cheteshwar1 has laid the foundation for India to get ahead in this match. One more good partnership needed. The bounce is already uneven, which is a good sign for #TeamIndia. #INDvAUS”
This century by @cheteshwar1 has laid the foundation for India to get ahead in this match. One more good partnership needed. The bounce is already uneven, which is a good sign for #TeamIndia. #INDvAUS pic.twitter.com/CPfDNTLpxj
— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) December 27, 2018
Netizens soon joined in to pour their love on the batsman
The first time Pujara has got two hundreds in an overseas series. This has been the year he has been reborn as a batsman
— Sambit Bal (@sambitbal) December 27, 2018
I think @cheteshwar1 wanted to prove a point on this tour and has come up with two centuries so far, both gems. Fantastic!
— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) December 27, 2018
The rock gets another! Played @cheteshwar1 !! #AUSvIND
— Isa Guha (@isaguha) December 27, 2018
This was Pujara's slowest ever test century, a great show of grit and determination. I don't know if he can call him the new wall of India, but he definitely oozes class and very similar to Dravid. #BoxingDay #BoxingDayTest #AUSvIND #KingKohli #Pujara #TeamIndia #Cricket
— Neerav Kalra (@ImNeerav18) December 27, 2018
Applauding Pic of Indian fan for pujara's century#Pujara pic.twitter.com/oaExbXbtld
— Sourabh Shett (@imsourabhshetty) December 27, 2018
Pujara’s contribution is surely the cornerstone of this innings. It’s unfortunate for Kohli to not secure his 26th century.
Four wickets down now. Anything over 400 is still a great score for 1st innings. #BoxingDayTest #AusvInd #INDvsAUS #cheteshwarpujara
— Prathyush Kashyap (@prathyushspeaks) December 27, 2018
Pujara's century has come off almost 50 overs. The man has batted out an entire ODI for these 100. Dem feelz of watching Dravid. Beautiful cricket.
— Anirudh Dinesh (@dudurudh) December 27, 2018
The best thing about Pujara’s century was that each and every run of his contributed to the team’s total.
— Harsha Bhogle #UnlessOfCourse (@TweetsOfBhogle) December 27, 2018
Pujara was dismissed by Pat Cummins for 106 in 319 balls. This is his second ton in the series. He had earlier scored a century in the first Test at Adelaide.