Stats: Batsmen who batted on all the five days of a Test

Team India’s No.3 Cheteshwar Pujara has displayed great patience batting in tough conditions as he scored a fifty in the first innings in the first Test against Sri Lanka despite regular interventions in the game due to rain in conditions heavily rolled in favour of the pacers.

He batted across three days for his 52 and walked in to bat towards the end of the 4th day. Pujara will achieve a unique feat of batting on all the five days of the Test when he resumes his innings on the final day unless it is a complete washout.

Thus, the 29-year-old will become the 9th player to bat on all the five days of a 5-day Test match and the 3rd from India after Motganhalli Jaisimha and Ravi Shastri. Interestingly, the two other feats were also recorded at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.

The last one of the previous eight players was South African opener Alviro Petersen who did so against New Zealand in Wellington, 2012 where the Saffers’ first innings was spread across two and half days and their 2nd innings lasted for the final two days.

India’s ML Jaisimha was also the first player to bat on each of the five days of a Test match when they faced Australia in Kolkata, 1960. India were reduced to 158/7 by the end of the first day after electing to bat with Jaisimha walked out to bat at No.9 and remaining on 0.

He resumed his innings on the 2nd day and was unbeaten on 20 as India were bowled out for 194. Once again on the 3rd day, Jaisimha walked out to bat in the 2nd innings in the last moments after they lost two wickets for 67 runs.

With India trying to save the game after conceding a 145-run first innings lead, the Hyderabadi scored 59 runs on the 4th day after the rest day. He added 15 more runs on the final day before getting out eventually. The match ended in a draw as Australia scored 121/2 while chasing 203.

Ravi Shastri batted on all the five days of a Test match against England in 1984 after India’s first innings ended on the 4th day of the game due to regular interruptions. Shastri, who was unbeaten on 26 on the first day, couldn’t add a run to his total on the 2nd day. On the 3rd, he brought up his century scoring 82 runs and got out adding five more runs on the 4th day. Shastri was unbeaten on 7 in the 2nd innings, which was played in the final session of the 5th and final day.

Players who batted on all the five days of a 5-day Test match:

(Stats as on November 19, 2017)

(Note: Pujara need to play at least a ball on the final day to be in the list)