India's veteran Test batter, Cheteshwar Pujara, slammed a double century for Saurashtra in the very 1st match of Ranji Trophy 2024 against Jharkhand in Rajkot. Pujara started off his domestic season on a high note as he notched up his 17th first-class double century.
Cheteshwar Pujara remained unbeaten on 243 off 356 balls against Jharkhand before Saurashtra declared their first innings for 578 for 4. Prerak Mankad hit an 0unbeaten 104 as the two batters made light work of the Jharkhand attack.Batting overnight on a score of 157 runs, Pujara completed the 200 in the first session of Day 3 of the clash. After bundling Jharkhand out for just 142 runs in the first innings, Saurashtra followed it up by declaring on the score of 578 runs in the first innings with the loss of four wickets.
The last Test Pujara played for India was back in June 2023, which was the World Test Championship final against Australia, in which he was unable to perform to the best of his abilities.Since then, the Indian team has played four Test matches, two each against the West Indies and South Africa. Pujara was not selected in any of those Test matches but was quite active in domestic tournaments, playing for Sussex in the county and for his state in the Irani Cup as well.
