Cheteshwar Pujara breaks Vijay Merchant's record with 12th first class double century; Saurashtra piles massive score of 553/9

Cheteshwar Pujara hit a record 12th first-class double hundred and in the process surpassed Vijay Merchant's record as an Indian with most double centuries in first class cricket.

The India No. 3 warmed up nicely for the Sri Lanka Test series as he helped Saurashtra pile up 553 runs for the loss of 9 wickets against Jharkhand in a group B encounter of the Ranji Trophy.

Vijay Merchant's record had stood for almost 70 years.

At stumps on the second day, Jharkhand were 52 for 2 with Jaydev Unadkat removing both openers Shasheem Rathour and Nazim Siddiqui.

The day belonged to Pujara, who scored 204 off 355 balls hitting 28 boundaries in the process. He was a picture of concentration batting close to 9 and half hours(566 minutes) and was the ninth Saurashtra batsman to be dismissed.

Along with Chirag Jani (108), Pujara added 210 runs for the seventh wicket which knocked the stuffing out of Jharkhand bowlers. Jani played 203 balls and hit 18 boundaries in the process.

The knock came at a good time for Pujara, who had gone without a half-century in his last 10 first-class innings. At his home ground, where he has scored tons of runs, he concentrated hard, punishing the loose deliveries and making a mockery of another domestic attack.

Brief Scores Group B In Rajkot: Saurashtra 553/9 (Cheteshwar Pujara 204,Chirag Jani 108, Prerak Mankad 85, Shahbaz Nadeem 2/183) Jharkhand 52/2 (Jaydev Unadkat 2/13).

In Valsad: Gujarat 236 & 110/2 (Priyank Panchal 61batting, Amit Mishra 2/27). Haryana 157 (Rohit Pramod Sharma65, Himanshu Rana 50, Piyush Chawla 4/48).

In Thumba: Kerala 219 and 45/1. Jammu and Kashmir 173 (Shubham Khajuria 41, ParveezRasool 28, KC Akshay 4/37). 

With PTI inputs