Cheteshwar Pujara dropped the anchor at one end as India continued to lose wickets from the other end on day one of the first Test at the Adelaide Oval.
Pujara, who looked like a man on a mission, continued to frustrate the Australian bowlers, who looked all set to clean the visitors below 200 at one point.
In the process, he brought up his 16th Test century and maiden in Australia as India went past the 200-run mark towards the fag end of the day.
The 30-year-old took 231 balls to reach the landmark. Pujara clipped a ball off his pads from Mitchell Starc for a two to go past the three-figure mark.
1st Test: Cheteshwar Pujara shows class with gritty hundred in Adelaide
He is now tied with Sourav Ganguly on No.7 for most hundreds for India in red-ball cricket.
However, his tired legs gave up on him and he was finally run-out for 123 off 246 balls as the day came to a close in Adelaide with India on 250/9.
During the course of the innings, he also went past the 5000-run mark in Test cricket in his 65th game for India on Thursday. Pujara is the 12th Indian to breach the 5000-run mark in Test cricket.
However, he along with captain Virat Kohli are the only active players in the coveted list. Sachin Tendulkar tops the charts with 15921 runs from 200 Tests and he is followed by Rahul Dravid (13265) and Sunli Gavaskar (10122) in the top three.
It is largely because of him that India have managed to reach a position of some comfort at stumps. Pujara's steady play along with Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishant Sharma and Mohammad Shami helped the visitors go past the 250-run mark -- something that looked impossible at one point.
Pujara showed his importance to the team yet again as others failed to get set on a pitch that had little to offer for the pacers.
