India veteran batter Cheteshwar Pujara entered the record books with his 17th double hundred in first-class cricket. Pujara reached the milestone against Jharkhand on January 7 while batting for Saurashtra in the opening round of Ranji Trophy – India’s premier domestic tournament. With the double ton, Pujara also drew equal with Englishmen Herbert Sutcliffe and Mark Ramprakash, both of whom have 17 double hundreds each. 

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Overall, the India batter is joint fourth on the list of most double hundreds in first-class cricket behind Aussie Don Bradman (37), Wally Hammond (36) and Patsy Hendren (22), both from England.

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The double hundred was Pujara’s eighth in the Ranji Trophy – second only to Paras Dogra’s nine. In international Tests, Pujara has scored three double hundreds. His rest of six double tons have come in various domestic tournaments across the world including English county cricket.

The double ton comes at a time for Pujara when he is looking to make a comeback in the Indian team. The batter last played a Test for India in June 2023 – the World Test Championship (WTC) Final 2023 against Australia. He could not make an impact in the game, scoring 14 and 27 in two innings as India lost by 209 runs.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) then dropped the batter for the next two series – against West Indies in July 2023 and against South Africa which concluded recently. Shubman Gill was given Pujara’s number three position in both the series as Yashasvi Jaiswal opened the batting alongside skipper Rohit Sharma.

Overall, Pujara has been an stalwart for the Indian cricket in Tests. He has played 103 Tests in career so far, scoring 7,195 runs at an average of 43.60 with 19 hundreds and 35 fifties.

India’s next Test assignment is a five-match series at home against England from January 25. With at least two more Ranji games to follow before the squad for England Tests are announced, Pujara would be hoping to put up a show in his bid to make a comeback. 

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