Rajkot, Nov 2:
Cheteshwar Pujara warmed up nicely for the Sri Lanka Test series with a record 12th first-class double hundred ensuring a huge first innings total of 553 for 9 for Saurashtra against Jharkhand in a group B encounter of the Ranji Trophy.
En route his double hundred, Pujara surpassed Vijay Merchant’s record as the Indian with most double hundreds in first-class cricket — a record that 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 once again 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 runss for the seventh wicket which knocked the stufing 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, the India No 3 was back in his element, concentrating long and 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 61 batting, Amit Mishra 2/27). Haryana 157 (Rohit Pramod Sharma 65, Himanshu Rana 50, Piyush Chawla 4/48).
In Thumba: Kerala 219 and 45/1.
Jammu and Kashmir 173 (Shubham Khajuria 41, Bandeep Singh 39 Ahmed Banday 35 Parvez Rasool 28, KC Akshay 4/37). (PTI)
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