New Delhi:
Cheteshwar Pujara has been the key factor in India’s good run in Australia in the ongoing series. In Adelaide, his knocks of 123 and 71 helped India secure a 31-run win to help Virat Kohli’s side win the first match of the series in a Test Down Under for the first time. In Melbourne, Pujara hit his 17th century and his partnership with Kohli helped India reach 443/7 declared on a difficult pitch. However, in the second innings, with India leading by 292 runs, Pujara attempted to flick a full ball from Pat Cummins but he found the fielder at leg gully to depart for 0. Things got worse for India as Kohli (0) and Ajinkya Rahane (1) fell to Cummins as the bowler picked up four wickets in a sensational burst.
This was the second time that Pujara had scored a century but dismissed for a duck in the same match. His first instance was in 2015 when he was dismissed for 145 and 0 in the third Test against Sri Lanka at the Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC). However, Pujara has also matched the unwanted feat which was earlier set by Sachin Tendulkar, who was also dismissed for a hundred and a duck in the same match twice.
Read More | Bumrah takes career-best figures to decimate Australia in MCG Test
Tendulkar was dismissed for 0 in the first innings of the Chennai Test in 1999 against Pakistan but he came back strongly in the second innings. Battling back spasms, Tendulkar scored a heroic 136 but India fell short by 12 runs. The second instance was against the West Indies in Port of Spain in 2002. Tendulkar smashed 117 but fell for 0 in the second innings. However, it did not prove to be costly as India won a Test in the West Indies after 26 years.
Read More | Watch – Kohli tries to run four, Pujara barely manages three
The other prominent people who have been dismissed twice for a hundred and a duck in the same match are Sir Don Bradman, Sir Garfield Sobers, Sir Vivian Richards, Jacques Kallis and Daryl Cullinan. Shivnarine Chanderpaul of West Indies has suffered this fate three times, which is the most. So, in a bittersweet way, Pujara is in elite company.
