England's bowlers must have heaved a huge sigh of relief when they saw the back of Indian run machine Cheteshwar Pujara.
On a day when the pitch played out easy barring the extra bounce and reverse swing extracted by the Aussie pacers, a determined Pujara held India's innings together.
The right-hander currently has 873 points in the list of Test batsmen, headed by Australia captain Steve Smith.
Pujara grafted his way to three centuries in the ongoing Test series against Australia, playing a key role in India's dominance.
Sidelined by a ligament tear in his right knee, talented middle-order batsman Cheteshwar Pujara is targeting the Australian tour later this year to make a comeback to the Indian squad.
Kevin Pietersen says the performance Indian batsmen, especially Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara, will be critical to the side's chances during its lengthy tour of England, come this summer.
Looking to cement his place in India's One-day cricket team, batsman Cheteshwar Pujara said he would like to open the innings in the limited-overs' format.
If India goes on to win the inaugural ICC World Test Championship title, it could prove to be the watershed moment for the revival of the longest format just like the 2007 World T20 triumph did for the popularity of the shortest format, said Cheteshwar Pujara.
Cheteshwar Pujara stood tall amid ruins as Sri Lanka struck twice in the truncated morning session to reduce India to 74 for five before rain forced play to be called off early on day two of the opening Test on Friday.
Images from the third day's play of the first Test between South Africa and India at the New Wanderers stadium in Johannesburg on Friday.
Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane hit unbeaten centuries to power India to 344 for three against Sri Lanka on Day 1 of the second Test at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo, on Thursday.
Ravindra Jadeja continued his renaissance as a batter, delivering his best-ever outing during the recent Test series in England and joining a list of legends
Considering the Test format as the ultimate challenge for any cricketer, Cheteshwar Pujara, on Friday, said if he had to get an opportunity, he would still like to play the longest format.
Prolific Saurashtra middle-order batsman Cheteshwar Pujara, who slammed his career's second Ranji Trophy triple hundred, may have to wait a little more to make his ODI debut, Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni indicated on Thursday.
Rizwan said he had had some quality discussion with Pujara on perception of Indian players about being engaged in bilateral cricket with Pakistan.
Young prodigy Yashasvi Jaiswal is considered the frontrunner to make his Test debut in the West Indies, but there are other options in Ruturaj Gaikwad and Shubman Gill.
Indian batsman Cheteshwar Pujara said that his team's bowling performances in the first Test versus England was up to the mark and they should not be too disappointed with the 198-run world record stand for the last wicket between Joe Root and James Anderson in Nottingham.
Yuvraj Singh was left out of the Indian squad for the forthcoming Test series against Australia next month. His place in the team was taken by Saurashtra middle order batsman Cheteshwar Pujara, who has been one of the most successful batsmen in domestic cricket in the last few years.
Cheteshwar Pujara feels the two warm-up games that the Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led team will play before the five-Test series against England will help the visitors adapt to the conditions.
Cheteshwar Pujara and Umesh Yadav's places could come under the scanner before the team travels to West Indies for a two-Test series.
Sunil Gavaskar slammed the Indian team management for fielding an unchanged eleven in the dead rubber against Afghanistan, wondering whether the "fear" of bench players succeeding over current favourites prompted it to play the same team.
India 'A' skipper Cheteshwar Pujara (67) stood tall amid the ruins after his West Indies 'A' counterpart Veersammy Permaul wrecked the visiting line-up with a five-wicket haul on the second day of their second unofficial cricket Test in Kingstown on Sunday.
Pujara, who had a base price of Rs 50 lakh went unsold at the IPL auctions in February.
Cheteshwar Pujara stayed in the top-10 list in the latest ICC Test Rankings issued on Sunday. Pujara dropped a rung to seventh but is still better off than his teammates as far as the rankings are concerned.
Cheteshwar Pujara is the first Indian batsman to post three hundreds in Tests in 2013 and is of the opinion that his side has enough runs on the board to press for a win on the final day in the first cricket Test against South Africa in Johannesburg.
Sachin Tendulkar turns 40 on Wednesday and the milestone means the sun will soon set on the batting maestro's illustrious career. Ahead of his big day, Tendulkar spoke to The Hindu about his satisfaction with Team India's youngsters, life after the retirement of teammates, dressing room banter and the evolution of batting.
Spurred by Chirag Jani's a five-wicket haul, defending champions Saurashtra scripted their first knockout win of the season with a 238-run thrashing of Vidarbha on the third day of their Ranji Trophy Elite Group A match in Nagpur on Sunday.
Murali Vijay (129 not out) and Cheteshwar Pujara (162 not out) hit unbeaten centuries to put India in complete control on the second day.
Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara hit centuries as India reached 311 for one at stumps on the second day against Australia in Hyderabad, on Sunday.
A fit again Wriddhiman Saha was named in the Rest of India squad that will take on first-time Ranji Trophy champions in the Irani Cup to be held in Mumbai from January 20-24.
Cheteshwar Pujara continued his good form in Ranji Trophy as he slammed his second successive century as Saurashtra dominated their Elite Group A match against Manipur.
Under pressure to retain his place in the Test XI, Cheteshwar Pujara overshadowed Rohit Sharma by scoring a solid hundred as India Blue made full use of a placid track to amass 362/3 against India Red on the first day of the Duleep Trophy final in Greater Noida.
According to Pujara, his nemesis Patrick Cummins bowled the 'ball of the series' about which he couldn't do anything.
'I know he is on record saying that the Test match game is probably a little bit hard on his body. But for a one-off game... he's been bowling every game through this IPL and he's bowling quick.'
Rajneesh Gupta presents some interesting numbers from Day 3:
Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane shared an unbroken fifth-wicket stand of 93 to keep alive India's hopes of a series-levelling win over Australia, giving the hosts a lead of 126 on a see-saw third day of the second Test in Bengaluru on Monday.
Cheteshwar Pujara is confident that history will repeat itself in Australia this time.
India A captain Cheteshwar Pujara is a satisfied man after his team won the tri-series beating Australia A in the final but had a word of caution for the senior team stating that Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Co might not get as flat tracks that they got during this series.
A collective effort put India in a commanding position on Day 2 of the opening Test against England in Motera on Friday. Having declared their first innings on a mammoth 521 for eight, highlighted by a magnificent 206 not out by Cheteshwar Pujara, the home team reduced the visitors to 41 for three at stumps.
As his quest to find a spot in India's One-day side continues, Cheteshwar Pujara has also started bowling in order to fit the bill for ODI selection and said a good showing in IPL could see him on the plane to Australia and New Zealand for next year's World Cup.
