35-year-old Cheteshwar Pujara, who was not selected in India’s Test squad for the 2-match Freedom Test Series against South Africa, has scored a double century for his domestic team, Saurashtra, in their very first match of the Ranji Trophy 2024. Pujara, who was dropped from the test team due to his poor performance in the 2023 WTC final against Australia, has played a brilliant not-out innings of 243 runs in 356 balls against Jharkhand on day 3 of the ongoing Ranji Trophy 2024 group stage match, which is taking place at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Rajkot.
Pujara’s double century has come at the right time because the Ajit Agarkar-led Indian Selection Committee is expected to announce the Men in Blue’s squad for the first two Test matches of the upcoming 5-match Test Series against England today (January 7). Thanks to his brilliant knock of 243 runs, the 35-year-old might make a comeback to the Indian Test squad because Shubman Gill struggled to score runs against the Seamers of South Africa at number 3, and with the 5-match Test Series against England starting on January 25, the selectors might consider adding the experience of Cheteshwar Pujara to the Indian batting lineup.
Pujara, who remained out, faced a total of 356 balls and scored 30 fours in his knock of 243 runs. He completed his double century on the very first ball of the 144th over of the Saurashtra first innings, and it was his 17th double ton in first-class cricket and his eighth double hundred in the Ranji Trophy.
Pujara has scored the same number of first-class double hundreds as Herbert Sutcliffe and Mark Ramprakash (17 first-class double centuries), and he is only behind Don Bradman (37), Wally Hammond (36) and Patsy Hendren (22) in the list of batters with the most first-class double tons. Pujara’s eighth double-hundred in the Ranji Trophy has made him the batter with the second-most double centuries in the history of the Ranji Trophy, behind only Paras Dogra’s nine double tons.
England’s tour of India 2024
England will take on India in a 5-match Test Series that starts on January 25 in Hyderabad. The second test match will take place in Visakhapatnam from February 2–6, while the third test will take place at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Rajkot from February 16–20. The 4th test match will be played at MS Dhoni’s hometown, Ranchi, on the 23rd of February, and the 5th and final test match will take place in Dharamshala on the 7th of March.
England’s squad against India for the 5-match Test Series
Ben Stokes (captain), Jonny Bairstow (WK), James Anderson, Rehan Ahmed, Gus Atkinson, Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Shoaib Bashir, Tom Hartley, Ben Foakes (WK), Ollie Pope, Jack Leach, Joe Root, Mark Wood, and Ollie Robinson.
Read – Watch: Ms Dhoni spotted smoking Hookah in an event, video goes viral
Visit the ICC OFFICIAL WEBSITE for more recent updates.
