IND vs AUS / This star player of Team India will play his 100th Test, coach Dravid praised

Less than 24 hours are left for the start of the second Test match between India and Australia. This second match of the four-match series will be played at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. The second Test is going to be very special for Team India's veteran batsman Cheteshwar Pujara. This will be the 100th Test of Pujara's career. Before this match, coach Rahul Dravid has given a big statement about Pujara.

Vikrant Shekhawat : Feb 16, 2023, 10:12 AM

IND vs AUS: Less than 24 hours are left for the start of the second Test match between India and Australia. This second match of the four-match series will be played at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. The second Test is going to be very special for Team India's veteran batsman Cheteshwar Pujara. This will be the 100th Test of Pujara's career. Before this match, coach Rahul Dravid has given a big statement about Pujara.

Dravid said this about Purja

Top-order batsman Cheteshwar Pujara will become the 13th Indian cricketer to play 100th match in this format in the second Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test between India and Australia starting on Friday at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. Ahead of the historic occasion for Pujara, India head coach Rahul Dravid praised the right-handed batsman for completing 100 Test matches, saying the feat is a reflection of his longevity.

"It's a huge achievement for a cricketer because when you reach this level, you need talent to reach this level and play so much cricket," he said at Wednesday's press conference. But there are many things other than that. Playing 100 Test matches is a reflection of your longevity."

Did debut in 2010

Since making his Test debut in October 2010, Pujara has emerged as a mainstay in India's batting line-up in the longest format of the game. So far, Pujara has played 99 Tests, scoring 7021 runs at an average of 44.15, including 19 hundreds and 34 half-centuries. Dravid said, "Every player has to go through ups and downs and deal with it. One has to play different bowling attacks and you are asked different questions on and off the field. It takes at least 10 years to play 100 Test matches. What Pujara has done in the last 13-14 years is a huge thing. It is without any doubt a huge achievement for his talent."

Pujara is also the only Indian batsman to have faced 500 balls in a Test innings, which he did against Australia in March 2017 in the third Border-Gavaskar Trophy match at Ranchi, where he scored a mammoth 202 off 525 balls. In that innings he broke the record held by Dravid, who had scored 270 off 495 balls against Pakistan in Rawalpindi in 2004.