Cheteshwar Pujara's 206* was only his second 100-plus total in Test cricket in nine innings
Ahmedabad: Nov 16, 2012
Cheteshwar Pujara joined a rather elite bunch of 20 Indians to score a double century in Tests after his 206 not out against England in the first Test at Ahmedabad.
Doing so, Pujara scored his second hundred-plus total in only his ninth Test innings as he punished England’s hapless attack all around the Sardar Patel Stadium. His knock included 21 hits to the fence at a strike-rate of over 50.
Pujara is also the first in nearly two years to score a double ton for India after Sachin Tendulkar's 214 against Australia at Bangalore in October 2010.
He also became the sixth Indian batsman to hit a double ton against England, the others being: Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi (203* in 1963-64 at Delhi), Sunil Gavaskar (221 at the Oval in 1979), Gundappa Viswanath (222 at Chennai in 1981-82), Vinod Kambli (224 at Mumbai in 1992-93) and Rahul Dravid (217 at the Oval in 2002).
Here is the full list of Indian double centurions in Tests:
| Player | No of double centuries or more | Highest Score |
| Virender Sehwag | 8 | 319 |
| Sachin Tendulkar | 6 | 248* |
| Rahul Dravid | 5 | 270 |
| Sunil Gavaskar | 4 | 236* |
| VVS Laxman | 2 | 281* |
| Vinoo Mankad | 2 | 231 |
| Dilip Sardesai | 2 | 212 |
| Wasim Jaffer | 2 | 212 |
| Vinod Kambli | 2 | 227 |
| Sourav Ganguly | 1 | 239 |
| Gundappa Viswanath | 1 | 222 |
| Polly Umrigar | 1 | 223 |
| Ravi Shastri | 1 | 206 |
| Gautam Gambhir | 1 | 206 |
| Navjot Sidhu | 1 | 201 |
| Nawab of Pataudi Jr | 1 | 203* |
| Sanjay Manjrekar | 1 | 218 |
| Anshuman Gaekwad | 1 | 201 |
| Cheteshwar Pujara | 1 | 206* |
The likes of Gavaskar, Tendulkar, Dravid, Kambli have multiple double tons, while Sehwag even has two triple centuries.
Pujara, who scored his maiden Test hundred (159)against New Zealand at Hyderabad in August this year, has been touted as the best replacement to former India captain and one-down Rahul Dravid.
The 24-year-old’s innings today was a treat to watch for the old-school Test purists as he utilised every shot in the book on his way to an unbeaten double century. He used the depth of the crease to perfection as he punched deliveries off the backfoot through the covers and whipped the others down mid-wicket. He was rock-solid as ever with the spinners, sweeping and driving them down the ground, and thoroughly living up to his billing of the “New Wall”, as the original watched from the commentary box.
