5 Defiant Cheteshwar Pujara Innings

#3) 87, 2nd Test, New Zealand tour of India at Kolkata, Sep 30-Oct 3, 2015

Pujara ensured that they don’t lose any more wickets as he went into a defensive mode guarding his wickets like a soldier guarding a castle.

It wasn’t a big hundred that we are accustomed to seeing from Pujara. However, his knock of 87 runs off 219 deliveries helped India to clinch the series title in the second Test match of the 3-match series.

India had lost Shikhar Dhawan, Murali Vijay and Virat Kohli and were struggling at a poor score of 46/3. However, Pujara ensured that they didn’t lose any more wickets as he went into a defensive mode guarding his wickets like a soldier guarding a castle.

He got able support from Ajinkya Rahane and stitched together a partnership of 141 runs for the for the fourth wicket. The interesting fact is that 78.16 percent of his runs came in boundaries, which amounted to a total number of 17.

That sums up the number of dot balls he played. However, that mattered the least in the context of the game as it got India on to a safe position. India scored 316 runs in that innings and later went on to win the match by 178 runs as a result of a superb bowling display.