County Championship: Cheteshwar Pujara Prepares For WTC Final With Century For Sussex

Senior India batter Cheteshwar Pujara has been named as the captain for Sussex for this season of County Championship Division Two.

Hove (UK): At a time when the focus of the whole cricketing world is on the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023, senior Indian batter Cheteshwar Pujara scored a century for Sussex in the first innings against Durham in the the County Championship Division Two on Friday.

Pujara, who has been named captain for this season, brought up his ton in 134 balls by slamming back-to-back boundaries off Brydon Carse in the 55th over on the second day.

Magical 🧙‍♂️

💯 @cheteshwar1 pic.twitter.com/nZ1J3cxnit

— Sussex Cricket (@SussexCCC) April 7, 2023

Walking to the middle when his team was at 44 for 2, Pujara scored 115 off 163 balls to cut short Durham’s lead as he shared a vital 112-run partnership with Tom Clark. Sussex had bowled out Durham for 376 in the first innings.

He was eventually trapped leg before by medium pacer Ben Raine. Pujara, who is a vital member of the Indian team that will play the WTC final against Australia at The Oval in London in June, sent the ball to the fence 13 times and once over it during his innings.

Last season, Pujara had scored five hundreds, and was the fourth highest run scorer in the Championship, accumulating 1094 runs in eight games. India will play Australia in the WTC final from June 7 at The Oval. While Australia qualified for the WTC for the first time, this is India’s second consecutive final.

India had lost to New Zealand in the inaugural WTC final.