Cheteshwar Pujara joins Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar & Rahul Dravid in elusive First-Class list

On Sunday, January 21, seasoned batsman Cheteshwar Pujara reached a significant milestone, becoming only the fourth Indian cricketer to surpass 20,000 runs in first-class matches, encompassing Tests and domestic red-ball games. Pujara achieved this feat while representing Saurashtra in the Ranji Trophy 2024 season against Vidarbha at the VCA Stadium in Nagpur.

3 things you need to know

• Cheteshwar Pujara has been out of the Indian team for the past several months
• He was last seen playing for India at the WTC final against Australia in June 2023
• Pujara has since been plying his trade at English County Cricket and Ranji Trophy

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Cheteshwar Pujara joins elusive list

In the Ranji Trophy encounter against Vidarbha, Cheteshwar Pujara needed 96 runs to reach the milestone. He accomplished this by scoring 43 in the first innings and a crucial 66 in the second innings of the match. Pujara has showcased excellent form throughout the ongoing Ranji Trophy campaign. 

Beginning the season with an unbeaten 243 against Jharkhand in Rajkot, he continued his impressive run with scores of 49 and 43 against Haryana in Saurashtra's second match. Against Vidarbha, Pujara scored one more half-century to become the highest run-scorer of the tournament thus far.

Indian players with the most FC runs

In addition to his domestic achievements, Cheteshwar Pujara boasts a stellar record in international cricket, accumulating 7195 runs in 103 Test matches for India at an average of 43.60. His prolific performances include an impressive tally of 19 centuries and 35 fifties in Test cricket.