Colombo, Aug 3:
Cheteshwar Pujara chose an apt occasion to profess his never-ending love for red-ball cricket, scoring another classy century as India reached 344/3 against Sri Lanka, here on the first day of the second Test.
On a day, when Pujara played his landmark 50th Test match and was also recommended for the prestigious Arjuna Award, the Saurashtra right-hander remained unbeaten on 128 — his 13th hundred in longest format.
Ajinkya Rahane (103 batting) also roared back to form after a patchy last season hitting his ninth Test ton while adding 211 runs for the unbroken fourth wicket stand as Sri Lankan bowlers once again had a poor day in office.
Comeback man KL Rahul (57) and senior opener Shikhar Dhawan (35) will be cursing their luck, having missed out on a run-feast against a below-par home team attack.
Rahul in-fact looked good for a big one before an unfortunate mix-up led to his run-out. Skipper Virat Kohli (13) was the only batsman to be dismissed cheaply.
Rahul was understandably distraught as he missed out on IPL and Champions Trophy due to shoulder surgery and the first Test here due to viral fever.
However, he said that he wasn’t angry with Pujara.
“I wasn’t upset with him (Pujara). Run-outs happen, it could have happened with anybody. It could have been him who got run out and it could have been my mistake. I was disappointed because I have been away from the game so long and I didn’t want to get out at all,” Rahul said at the end of the day’s play.
Pujara was an epitome of patience facing 225 balls, hitting 10 fours and a six while Rahane was more attacking in his 168-ball effort, that had 12 boundaries.
En route his second successive hundred in the series, Pujara also completed 4000 Test runs. His sequence of Test scores over the past few Test matches before the current one — 17, 92, 202, 57, 153.
He also became the seventh Indian batsman to score a century in his 50th Test match. The illustrious six before him are Polly Umrigar (1961) Gundappa Viswanath (1979), Kapil Dev (1983), VVS Laxman (2004) and Virat Kohli (2016).
He also became the second Indian after Sachin Tendulkar to score hundreds in three consecutive Tests in Sri Lanka.
In the final session, Pujara-Rahane duo took India across the 250-mark with ease.
Rahane reached his half-century off 83 balls, inclusive of 6 fours. The duo crossed their 150-partnership with ease as India’s 300 came up in the 77th over of the day.
Three overs later, he survived a leg before shout via DRS off Malinda Pushpakumara (0-82) but the ball seemed to be going down leg.
Thereafter, Rahane celebrated double hundred partnership with Pujara. When he tapped for a single to complete his hundred, it was more like an elation for Rahane, who got a Test hundred after nearly 10 months. His last hundred was 188 against New Zealand in Indore last year.(PTI)
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