When RCB’s Cheteshwar Pujara smashed Brett Lee for six in the first over during IPL 2012 [Watch]

Former Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) batter Cheteshwar Pujara once smashed Brett Lee for a six in the first over of the innings in an IPL game in 2012. RCB were hosting Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru in the 10th match of the season.

Batting first, KKR posted a decent total of 165/8 on the board from their 20 overs. For the run-chase, Cheteshwar Pujara walked out to open the batting for RCB alongside Chris Gayle. Former KKR and Australian quick Brett Lee opened the bowling for the Knight Riders in that game.

In the very first over, Cheteshwar Pujara, who was on strike, smashed Brett Lee for a brilliant six off the third ball of the innings. It was a short ball outside the off stump and Pujara played an upper cut of sorts, just using the pace and bounce as he guided the ball over the fence for a maximum.

Watch the video of the brilliant six posted by a user on Instagram below -

However, Pujara was eventually dismissed for just six runs off nine balls. Further, RCB also collapsed and were restricted to 123/9, losing the game by 42 runs in the end.

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Cheteshwar Pujara's short IPL career

While Cheteshwar Pujara established himself as a solid batter in the red-ball format, he was never known for his batting in white ball or limited-overs cricket. Even in the IPL, Pujara had a very short career where he featured in just 30 matches across five seasons.

The right-hander began his IPL journey with KKR in 2010. He played 10 matches that year and scored 122 runs from six innings. The next year in 2011, Pujara moved to RCB. He stayed with the team for three seasons from 2011 to 2013. However, he played only 14 matches in these three seasons. In 2014, he moved to the Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) and played six matches where he scored 125 runs.

Interestingly, he was a part of the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in 2021 but did not play a single game. Therefore, the 2014 season was the last time where he actually played a game in the league.

Overall, Cheteshwar Pujara made 390 runs from 30 matches in the IPL at an average of 20.52 with a strike-rate of 99.74 with one half-century.