Cheteshwar Pujara smashes second consecutive century in Royal London One-Day Cup
Veteran Indian batter Cheteshwar Pujara continued his red hot form with yet another century in the Royal London One-Day Cup 2022 tournament. The Sussex batter scored 174 runs off just 131 balls with the help of 20 fours and five sixes against Surrey at the County Ground in Hove on Sunday (August 14). He reached the 100-run mark off 103 balls and then smashed 74 runs in just 27 balls to guide Sussex to 378/6 while batting first. In the previous match against Warwickshire, he smashed 107 runs off just 79 balls and 63 runs against Gloucestershire on August 5.
The 34-year-old right-handed batter is captaining Sussex in the place of injured skipper Tom Haines. He joined Sussex after going unsold in the Indian Premier League 2022 mega-auction. His stint in County cricket proved very successful for him and Sussex this season. Pujara is leading the scoring charts for Susses in Couty with 1094 runs in just eight matches at an average of 109.40 so far. His heroics with Sussex earned him a swift return to the Indian red-ball team as well.
Pujara continued his red-ball cricket form in the Royal London One-Day Cup, scoring 367 runs in just five matches so far at an average of 91.75 and a strike rate of 120.72. During his 174-run knock against Surrey, he broke his previous highest score of 158* runs in List-A cricket. Prior to this inning, he had scored 4668 runs in 107 List-A matches at an impressive average of 54.56 but made only five appearances in ODI cricket.
Sussex ahead of Surrey after 174-run knock from Cheteshwar Pujara
Notably, Sussex are struggling in the bottom half of the Royal London One-Day Cup Division One table with two wins and two defeats in the opening four matches so far. Pujara’s big show and Tom Clark’s 104-run knock helped Sussex to score 378 runs while batting first against Surrey. Right-arm pacer Aristides Karvelas took four early wickets to reduce Surrey to 55/4 in 11 overs. A big win against Surrey would put Sussex at top of the table who are having an impressive net run rate of 0.860.
