Cheteshwar Pujara brought up his 17th Test century and second of the series with a beautiful drive off Nathan Lyon for four on day two of the third Test against Australia in Melbourne on Thursday. The experienced Pujara, who has scored more runs and faced more balls than any other batsman in the series, was 68 not out overnight and continued slowly to build on his total.
Pujara’s fourth Test century against Australia is also his slowest in the longest format of the game and also the third slowest by an Indian in Australia, behind Sunil Gavaskar (286 balls, Adelaide 1985) and current India coach Ravi Shastri (307 balls, SCG 1992). Pujara is also the fifth Indian batsman to score a century in the Boxing Day Test.
Pujara (322), the highest run scorer of the series, now has most runs for him in a series away from home going past 309 runs in Sri Lanka in 2017. This is the third Test of the 4-match series. The series is currently tied at 1-1. India had won the first game at Adelaide by 31 runs. The Aussies bounced back with a 146-run win in the second Test at Perth.