Cheteshwar Pujara Surpasses Brian Lara's First-Class Record As Star Dominates Red-Ball Cricket

Cheteshwar Pujara may not be a part of Team India's rich test cricket legacy, but he continues to dominate in domestic red-ball cricket. Pujara continues his rich cricketing legacy in the Ranji Trophy tournament. While representing Saurashtra in domestic red-ball cricket, the Indian cricketer continues to deliver and prove why he is one of the finest red-ball cricket stars the country has. While playing in the Ranji Trophy match against Chhattisgarh , Pujara broke not just one but multiple records.

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India's Cheteshwar Pujara Surpasses Brian Lara's First-Class Feat, Dominates Domestic Red-Ball Cricket

While playing for Saurashtra, India's Cheteshwar Pujara raked up a ton against Chhattisgarh in the Ranji Trophy 2024-25 season. The India batter secured his 66th first-class hundred, overtaking the legendary Caribbean cricketer Brian Lara's record of FC tons. Lara had 65 tons in first-class cricket, and Pujara has eclipsed the count after scoring his 66th hundred. In total, Pujara scored 234 runs off 383 balls during Saurashtra's innings, which had 25 fours and a six.

For Pujara, it was his 25th ton in the Ranji Trophy, which aided him in surpassing Indian cricket legends like Vinod Kambli and Subramanium Badrinath. In terms of the Ranji Trophy tons by active players, the star Indian Test cricketer is only behind Paras Dogra. The ton against Chhattisgarh also helped Cheteshwar to reach the 21,000 run milestone, which makes him the fourth Indian player to do so after Sunil Gavaskar, Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar.

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Pujara's excellence with the bat helped Saurashtra secure 478/8 against Chhattisgarh 's 578 (d). But on Day four of the match at the Niranjan Shah Stadium in Rajkot, the match was eventually drawn. Pujara's spectacular 234 run innings helped him win the Player of the Match Award. 

With his stint in the County Championship with Sussex and representing Saurashtra in India, Pujara seems to be back in his scoring ways. However, it does not look like the Indian Cricket Team would consider him and have moved on to focus on the young stars. But his recent form speaks otherwise, and he continues his spectacular run in first clash cricket.