Cheteshwar Pujara breaks century drought after 1,443 days, hits his fastest Test hundred

Cheteshwar Pujara on Friday finally ended his four-year-long century drought as he reached the three-digit mark on Day 3 of the first Test match between India and Bangladesh. Pujara scored an unbeaten 102 off 130 balls during India's second innings before the KL Rahul-led side declared and set Bangladesh a mammoth target of 512 runs to win. This is Pujara's fastest Test hundred ever as he made his first fifty from 86 balls and next 52 came from just 43 balls. 

This is also Pujara's first Test century in 52 innings. His last hundred came in January 2019 during the Border-Gavaskar series against Australia. Pujara's 19th century was made up of 13 boundaries, which he scored at a strike rate of 78.46. Earlier, he was dismissed for 90 off 203 balls during the first innings of the ongoing match. Pujara's 90-run knock in the first innings helped India post 404 runs on the board. 

Earlier, Shubman Gill scored his maiden Test hundred as he registered 110 off 152 balls on Day 3 in Chattogram. His knock included 10 boundaries and three sixes.  

India vs Bangladesh

India amassed a total of 404 runs after batting for 133.5 innings in the first innings. Shreyas Iyer notched up 86 runs off 192 runs. Ravichandran Ashwin also contributed with a half-century worth 58 runs, while Rishabh Pant and Kuldeep Yadav scored 46 off 45 and 40 of 114 balls, respectively. India then restricted the hosts to 150 runs with the help of amazing bowling performances from Kuldeep Yadav and Mohammed Siraj. 

Image: Twitter/BCCI