Australia captain Pat Cummins presents signed team jersey to Cheteshwar Pujara for completing 100 Tests

Australian skipper Pat Cummins gifted a signed jersey to Cheteshwar Pujara, to commemorate Pujara’s 100th Test match appearance after the third day of the second test match, at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, in New Delhi on Sunday. India won the match by 6 wickets | Photo Credit: ANI

Australian captain Pat Cummins presented Cheteshwar Pujara with a signed Test jersey of the Australian team to honor the India batter playing his 100th Test on Sunday.

After the bowlers skittled the visitors out for 113, Rohit Sharma, Srikar Bharat and Cheteshwar Pujara stood up to help India register an emphatic 6-wicket victory over Australia in the second Border-Gavaskar Test match Trophy here at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Sunday.

The Board of Control for Cricket (BCCI) on Sunday posted a picture of the Australian captain presenting a signed jersey to Pujara. Featured in his 100th Test, Pujara played the anchor, a role he is familiar with, scoring 31*. Intent-driven cameos by Shreyas Iyer (12 from 10) and Srikar Bharat (23* from 22), helped India overhaul the target in 26.4 overs. Pujara slammed the winning runs. Coming into the match, India retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy by taking a 2-0 lead in the four-match series. Pujara (31*) and Bharat (23*) played till the end to guide their team home.

For India, Ravindra Jadeja tore Australia apart with seven for 42. India struggled to chase 115 at times, but the score was never particularly dangerous thanks to Pujara’s unbeaten 31, which took the home team to victory . Resuming their innings at 14/1, Indian skipper Rohit Sharma in red-hot form battered the Australian bowlers all over the ground as he collected 12 runs off Nathan Lyon’s end.

However, Rohit’s blistering stint at the crease came to an end when he was run out after scoring 31 runs off 20 deliveries. Virat Kohli then came out to bat at the crease with Cheteshwar Pujara. While Pujara continued to pile on singles at regular intervals, Kohli with a tight grip at one end became the fastest batsman to score 25,000 international runs. The former Indian captain continued to hit boundaries to ease some of the pressure from the Indian team. Nathan Lyon delivered a short ball but Virat Kohli played it beautifully towards the backward square leg fence for a brilliant four in the 16th over of the innings. Todd Murphy then gave his team a huge victory as he removed a dangerous batsman Kohli for 20 runs. Right-handed batsman Shreyas Iyer came out to bat and delivered two beautiful big shots before losing his wicket to Lyon for 12 off 10.

Iyer’s wicket invited right-handed batsman Srikar Bharat to the crease. Bharat shifted gears as he continued to pile on by hitting the Australian bowlers for boundaries. After 25 overs, India needed just 10 runs to win. Playing his landmark 100th Test, Pujara hit a brilliant four off Murphy’s delivery to take India home by 6 wickets against Australia in the 2nd TestEarlier, a brilliant display by spin twins Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, including the latter’s seven-for, saw Australia skittled out for 113 in their second innings of the ongoing second test at Delhi’s Ferozshah Kotla on Sunday, setting the hosts a target of 115 runs. At lunch, India’s score was 14/1, with skipper Rohit Sharma (12*) and Cheteshwar Pujara (1*) at the crease. Australia resume their innings at 61/1, with Travis Head 39*, Marnus Labuschagne 16* looking to build on the visitors’ lead.

Ashwin scored for the hosts early in the session, dismissing a dangerous Head for 43 off 46 balls and reducing Australia to 65/2. The duo of Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne continued the innings, adding 20 more runs before Ashwin sent Smith back for just 9. Australia were 85/3 in 19 overs. Following this, Jadeja-Ashwin tore apart the rest of the Aussie batting attack, as the ball stayed low and shot over the surface. The Aussies were eventually bundled out for 113 runs in just 31.1 overs.

Only Head and Labuschagne could reach double digits. Jadeja took the bulk of the Aussie wickets, finishing with his career-best figures in the Test of 7/42 in 12.1 overs. Ashwin scalped 3/59 in 16 overs. Chasing 115, India bowled out KL Rahul for just 1, extending his lean patch in the red-ball format. Nathan Lyon had him caught by wicketkeeper Alex Carey. The Indian score read 6/1 in 1.1 overs. Rohit and Pujara then took India to lunch without any damage.