County Championship: Cheteshwar Pujara clobbers Shaheen Afridi for a remarkable six

Cheteshwar Pujara has been on a roll in the ongoing County Championship 2022. The senior batter was axed from India’s Test squad for the two-match home series against Sri Lanka earlier this year due to underwhelming batting performances in the last 12 months. He then had a forgettable Ranji Trophy personally by his own standrads as Saurashtra failed to retain their title having crashed out in the group stages.

However, Pujara’s move to making himself available for the entire County season has worked extremely well in his favour. Lately, the Gujarat cricketer showed a fearless intent while taking on one of the best modern-day fast bowlers in world cricket, Shaheen Afridi. This happened during the ongoing game between Sussex and Middlesex.

Cheteshwar Pujara hits Shaheen Afridi for a superb six

In the second innings, Sussex were reduced to 6/2 with Shaheen Afridi having accounted for opener Ali Orr for a duck with the new ball in hand. On the third delivery of the third over, the tall speedster came charging in at the seasoned red-ball batter and bowled a short delivery way outside the off-stump in order to deceive him. Nonetheless, Pujara counter-attacked with an uppercut as the ball flew way over the off-side boundary and landed in the stands for a six.

Watch the video here:

Cheteshwar Pujara hits a Six off Shaheen Shah Afridi.
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The senior batter had scored 16 runs in the first innings. As far as the status of the second innings is concerned, he along with Tom Alsop have put on an unbeaten 68-run stand for the third wicket. While Alsop is not out on 29, Pujara remained unbeaten on 35 as Sussex have taken their lead to 110 runs.

Cheteshwar Pujara had come into this contest being in outstanding form having amassed 531 runs in five innings at an impressive average of 132.75. This includes two double centuries and a century in three matches. The Test specialist would be hoping to come up with yet another spectacular performance as Sussex eye their first win of this season.