Opening batsman Cheteshwar Pujara struck a solid hundred on his comeback as he held Indian first innings together to take the visiting side to 220 for seven at tea on the second day of the third and cricket Test against Sri Lanka here today.
Pujara, playing in this Test after Murali Vijay was ruled out due to injury, was unbeaten on 101 (219 balls, 9x4) and was playing the lone ranger from among the top-order batsmen as wickets kept falling at regular intervals at the other end at the Sinhalese Sports Club.
At the break, Amit Mishra was batting on 24, putting up 40 runs for the seventh wicket with Pujara, who struck his seventh Test hundred in his 28th match.
On a tough wicket, Pujara showed great discipline and patience, yet he never let the scoring rate down. Starting the post-lunch session at 55, he was looking for some company at the other end. But Stuart Binny (0) was trapped first-ball after lunch by Dhammika Prasad (4/65) for a golden duck.
India were really struggling for breath at 119/5 then, but debutant Naman Ojha (21 runs, 54 balls, 3x4) walked in to soothe the nerves. He mixed caution with aggression, but mainly Pujara upped the ante at the other end as the duo quickly put on 54 runs for the sixth wicket.
They were looking in control, hitting the spinners easily and negotiating the pacers well too, but just then Ojha threw away his wicket trying to clear the fence in the 61st over of the bowling of Tharindu Kaushal (1/40).
Ravichandran Ashwin (5) failed once again with the bat in what is proving to be a lean series by his standards. But Mishra then stuck around long enough to help push India's total past the 200-run mark in the 70th over.
Even so, this session was all about Pujara, who batted at a strike rate of 46.11 and gestured towards the dressing room on reaching his hundred off 214 balls. This was his first Test hundred since scoring 153 at Johannesburg versus South Africa in December 2013, a gap of 22 innings.
