Cheteshwar Pujara Makes Strong Statement With Double Ton Ahead Of Squad Announcement

Veteran Indian cricket team batter Cheteshwar Pujara made a strong case for his return to Test cricket with a record-extending double century in Ranji Trophy. Pujara slammed his 17th double ton in first-class cricket during Saurashtra's Ranji Trophy encounter against Jharkhand in Rajkot. India will face England in a five-match Test series starting January 25 and with the squad announcement expected soon, the double century can prove to be an extremely crucial statement of intent from Pujara to the selectors.

With his 17th double ton, Pujara became joint fourth in the list of most double centuries in first-class cricket along with Herbert Sutcliffe and Mark Ramprakash. Sir Donald Bradman tops the list with 37 double centuries with Wally Hammond of England in second position with 36.

Pujara also overtook VVS Laxman to become fourth in the list of Indian batters with most first-class runs and he is only behind Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid.

Meanwhile, the national selectors aren't finding it easy to pick just one among Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli for the upcoming Afghanistan series.