It has taken a while longer than many would have expected, but Cheteshwar Pujara will this week play his 50th Test match for India when the second match against Sri Lanka gets underway on Thursday at the SSC in Colombo.
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Having made his debut in October 2010 with a brisk 72 off 89 balls to help power India to victory over Australia in Bangalore, it appeared like the youngster with a penchant for runs had made a seamless transition from first-class cricket, but injury during the IPL the next year sidelined him until August 2012.
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Since he marked his return to India's Test team with 159 against New Zealand, Pujara has more or less filled the breach vacated by Rahul Dravid's departure from the No 3 spot, barring a brief absence owing to poor form. As the right-hand batsman enters his 50th Test, here's a look back at his defining performances.
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One of three innings which Pujara cherishes most, this was his maiden hundred and it came in his comeback innings from injury in the post-Dravid era - which Pujara in his own words termed his "second debut" coming as it did 20 months after his first Test.
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This 159 was easily the highest score of India's 438 - the next best was MS Dhoni's 73 - and it helped take the total to 438, which was more than New Zealand could cope with. His approach was simple and refreshing: he put a price on his wicket and ground New Zealand down, and yet outscored Virat Kohli in their century stand that was the pivotal feature of India's innings. From 49/1, Pujara helped the score to 387/6 before he was out. India won by an innings and 115 runs.
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In scoring an unbeaten 206 out of India's first innings of 521/8, a 24-year-old Pujara showed that only a player of immense inner calm can play an innings of such serenity and composure. He was composed, almost flawless and, like the man who shoes he stepped into in the Test line-up, wonderfully graceful.
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The Ahmedabad surface was placid, and the bowlers, apart from Graeme Swann, lacking discipline, but only a harsh critic would begrudge this innings, made as it was of great sobriety and subtlety. Pujara kept the England bowlers at bay for over eight and a half hours, staved off whatever came his way, unfurled flick after pretty flick, kept looking for runs square on the off side. He played spin and pace comfortably, with his handling of Swann being the most noticeable aspect of his game. That double-century proved the difference between victory and defeat.
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That Pujara was in possession of an appetite for big innings was well known - this was the player who blasted a triple-century in Under-14 cricket, after all - and Australia felt the pain as India's No. 3 produced another silken innings in the second Test.
Batting with the poise and confidence of a batsman who could have been batting in his 50th game, Pujara stroked his way to a second Test double-century in his 11th appearance. With Murali Vijay he put on a record 370 for the second wicket, in the process shoving Australia (who made 237 in their first innings) out of the match, and his 341-ball effort contained shots dripping with confidence. Pujara flicked and drove stylishly and when he cut it was with purpose, whether against pace or spin. In reaching 204, Pujara became the second-quickest India to the landmark of 1000 Test runs.
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His defining innings? Time will tell. In his first appearance since he was dropped in December 2014, Pujara picked up the Man-of-the-Match award for his superb unbeaten 145 in the first innings at the SSC in what was a deciding Test against Sri Lanka. That unbeaten innings made him just the fourth Indian after Sunil Gavaskar, Rahul Dravid and Virender Sehwag to bat through a Test innings for India.
Pujara's unbeaten vigil spanned 289 deliveries and it was indeed a very special effort in his comeback match, for he struggled for support, most often losing partners after stabilising stands had been staged, until Amit Mishra turned up on day two. Pujara batted with admirable focus to outshine each of the specialist Indian batsmen - none of whom made more than 26 - and without his efforts, the tourists would have been in a deep hole. It wasn't his prettiest hundred, but it proved hugely influential to India winning a Test series in Sri Lanka for the first time since 1993.
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Pujara rates this innings higher than his double-century in the following Test in Ranchi. This knock steered India out of trouble and paved the way for victory, and Pujara pinpointed his 118-run alliance - the first century stand of the series - with Ajinkya Rahane as helping him gain in confidence.
Australia had carved out an 87-run lead on an unpredictable pitch, which India had overturned to a slim lead of 33 when Rahane joined Pujara at 120/4. Their partnership put the hosts in a reasonably secure position, from where Pujara carried on to push the victory target to a total that proved too much for Australia as the Bangalore surface deteriorated rapidly.
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This monumental innings came in the third Test, with the series level and India needing to avoid defeat to prevent Australia from retaining the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. After Australia posted 451, Pujara carried India with a remarkable 202, the longest innings by any Indian batsman in terms of balls faced, 525, and carved out in a staggering 672 minutes.
The track was slow and low, but not dodgy. That suited Pujara perfectly, and his application against a disciplined Australian attack was exemplary and defining in the drawn result. At stumps on day three, India were 328/6, a deficit of 123. Pujara resumed the fourth morning on 130, and with the out-of-form Wriddhiman Saha batted for 63.2 overs for a stand worth 199 that took the match away from Australia.