Ranji Trophy 2021-22: Cheteshwar Pujara bags a four-ball duck to add to his struggling run

Veteran Indian batter Cheteshwar Pujara’s poor struggle with the bat continued as he even failed to open his account on Day three of Saurashtra’s clash against Mumbai in the ongoing 2022 Ranji Trophy. The senior batter was trapped plumb in front of the wicket by debutant Mohit Avasthi, who ran through Saurashtra’s top-order in their first innings.

A four ball duck ahead of the squad selection for the two-match Test series against Sri Lanka in March might damage Pujara’s chance to make it into national Test team. Team India will be locking horns with the visitors in a two-match series starting from March four.

Cheteshwar Pujara’s lean patch continues

Pujara was the leading run-scorer of the 2018-19 Border-Gavaskar series where he scored 521 runs in eight innings, which helped Indian to clinch their maiden Test series victory in Australia. However, since that the batter has only scored 1,287 runs in 27 Tests ever since. The tally includes just 12 half-centuries with the highest score of 91 runs against England at Leeds. His last ton came in January 2019 against Australia. 

Coming back to the match, Pujara was trapped by debutant Mohit Avasthi as he completely outfoxed the veteran batter with his late out-swinger. The 29-year-old pacer from Mumbai has ran through Saurashtra’s batting order with excellent figures of 4 for 56. Avasthi has bagged the wickets of Vishvaraj Jadeja, Cheteshwar Puara, Arpit Vasavada and Prerak Mankad.

The defending champions are struggling at 164/6 on Day 3, with Sheldon Jackson and Chirag Jani unbeaten at the crease. Earlier, Mumbai had declared their innings on 544/7. Sarfaraz Khan starred with the bat for Mumbai, scoring 275 while seasoned campaigner Ajinkya Rahane slammed 129 to bolster his chances of making it into the Indian Test team for Sri Lanka series.

Both Rahane and Pujara came back to the domestic circuit to regain their lost form. While, Pujara is still finding it hard to score runs, Rahane has improved his chances to get another shot at the highest level. Rahane’s previous hundred had come back in December 2020 in the Melbourne Test against Australia.