Cheteshwar Pujara scores his first century in county cricket as Derbyshire register a comfortable victory

Cheteshwar Pujara

Derbyshire registered a thumping 408-run win against Leicestershire in a LV= County Championship Division Two match at the Derby County Ground.. Thanks to second innings centuries from their batsmen Ben Slater (119 off 268) and Cheteshwar Pujara (100 off 115), the Wayne Madsen-led side were able to set a target of 541 for Leicestershire in their final innings.

The declaration came as soon as Pujara reached his century, his first in the English county cricket and 27th overall in first-class circuit, with the score at 372/3. Pace bowler Mark Footitt made light work of the Leicestershire’s batting order, picking up the first 4 wickets to fall before coming back in time to complete his 5-wicket haul as the oppostion were skittled out for just 112 runs.

Earlier in the match, put in to bat first, Derbyshire scored 289 runs in their first innings: an innings in which Pujara was adjudged out for handling the ball, thereby becoming the first Indian batsman to be dismissed in such a fashion. Leicestershire couldn’t make use it as they were bundled out for only 141 runs, with the pace trio of Ben Cotton, Tony Palladino and Footitt sharing all the 10 wickets between them.

After an extended stretch of poor results with the Indian national team in the 5-match Test series against England, one that forced him to seal a county contract to iron out his flaws, the 26-year-old will be reasonably happy with the turnaround scoring 90 and 100 in back-to-back four-day matches, especially after the first three innings for his new club only yielded scores of 7, 0 and 16.

Indian fast bowler Varun Aaron, on the other hand, conceded 81 runs in his 25.3 overs picking up only 2 wickets for Durham in a losing cause against Warwickshire at Birmingham.