Top five gutsy Test knocks of Pujara

Cheteshwar Pujara with his gritty 132* in India's first innings at Southampton, has kept the series alive for India. After being dropped for the first Test at Edgbaston, Pujara has answered his critics with a majestic ton. It didn't come that much easily for Pujara though. While all his teammates were busy playing in the richest cricket league in the world, he went to England to play County cricket for Yorkshire. Though he didn't score well, all the testing periods he experienced in all those testing conditions are paying rewards now.

Not only at Southampton, Pujara had played some series defining knocks in the past. Even on his debut, he scored a matured 72 in a successful run chase against Australia at Bangalore. He scored two double tons against Australia and England and in total he has 15 hundreds and many invaluable knocks. Out of all them, we'll have look into his top five knocks.

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#5 135 v Eng at Wankhede, Mumbai in 2012

On a spinning Mumbai track, while watching all his partners departing one after the other, Pujara played 350 balls for 135 to help India post 327. With Cook & KP's tons England went on to win the match. But Pujara who batted for 451 minutes showed tremendous grit and skill. Before this Test, he scored a 206 at Ahmedabad and finished as the second highest run-getter in the series after Cook with 438 runs.

#4 50 v SA at Wanderers, Johannesburg in 2018

After losing the series, India were playing for pride at in the final Test. But with cloudy conditions, the pitch looked almost unplayable for the batsmen. In the second Test Pujara was run-out in both the innings. Under huge pressure, he came at the fourth over and played 179 balls for 50 runs and was dismissed in the 61st over. Though he scored only fifty runs, it was a knock of pure determination and temperament. Even the wicket was under scrutiny which makes the fifty even more effective. India eventually won that match by 63 runs.

Cheteshwar Pujara

#3 145 v Sri Lanka at SSC, Colombo in 2015

Pujara was left out of the playing eleven for the first two Tests in Sri Lanka. Though his sub-continent record has been outstanding, his consistent failures in overseas Tests prompted the team management to drop him. Due to the injuries to both the regular openers Vijay and Dhawan, he was brought back to open the innings. Out of India's 312, Pujara made 145 off 289 balls. He held together India's first innings which helped India to win the Test. With this win they sealed series 2-1, which is Virat Kohli's first Test series win as Captain.

#132* v Eng at The Ageas Bowl, Southampton in 2018

Undoubtedly, this was one of Pujara's best hundreds. India were in trouble and again Pujara with his superb skills had scored a masterful ton to keep India in the game. With some delightful strokes he scored his 15th Test century. Even after Ishant's dismissal to Moeen Ali, which was his fifth, Pujara continued with Bumrah which brought India a valuable 27-run lead. He lofted Ali over his head to get to his hundred then he showcased his range of shots where he smashed Broad over wide mid-on. He then managed to pick a gap between the covers for a delightful four.

Pujara against Australia

#1 92 v Australia at Chinnaswamy, Bangalore in 2017

Under Virat Kohli, India became a ruthless side with dominant series wins against New Zealand, Bangladesh(One Test) and England. But Australia stunned the Asian giants at Pune to take 1-0 lead in the four-match series. Even in first innings at Bangalore, they were bundled out for 189 and Australia had a crucial 87-run lead on a spinning Chinnaswamy pitch. With the pressure of losing the Border-Gavaskar Series, he stitched a 118-run partnership with Rahane to post a decent target for the visitors to chase. With Ashwin's six-wicket haul, India bundled the Aussies for 112 to win the Test by 75 runs. From then on India got momentum and they went onto win the series 2-1. This is one of the best series in recent times and it was Pujara's gritty 92 that swung the series in India's favour.