Pujara scored a half-century off 176 balls, the slowest in his Test career, during which India went from 70 to 195. But questions have been raised on his "intent" yet again.

Pujara's slowest Test half-century, a painstaking 50 off 176 balls handed Australia control of the match in which they now have overall lead of 197 runs.

Pujara has managed to score just 113 in five innings so far at an average of 22.6

Cheteshwar Pujara grinded his way to a 176-ball 50 but kept India in the game during the first session as he shared a 53-run fifth-wicket partnership with Rishabh Pant.

The world's number one bowler returned fine figures of 4/29 and dismissed Pujara, who had been a thorn in Australia's flesh during the 2018-19 series, for the fourth time in the ongoing rubber.

Cheteshwar Pujara scored 50 off 176 deliveries in the first innings of the Sydney Test.

Pujara incurred a blow on his finger on the right hand while batting and was immediately taken inside. BCCI is yet to provide an update on the matter. 

Pujara, who scored 521 runs at an average of 74.42 on India's previous tour of Australia in 2018, has been dismissed three out of four times by Cummins in the first two Tests.

Paine had dropped a catch early on Sunday morning but did no mistake in completing the dismissal of Cheteshwar Pujara. 

Lyon said that Australia have a couple of more surprises lined up for Pujara, who proved a major nemesis for the side on India's previous tour Down Under.

Australia had lost a series at home to India for the first time in history in 2018-19 after losing the Tests at Adelaide and Melbourne. Pujara scored three centuries in that series to wear out the Australian bowling attack.

Pujara being referred to as 'Steve' was criticized by many fans when former Yorkshire captain Azeem Rafiq had filed a legal complaint against the team for "institutional racism".

The former Australian captain was not pleased with the attitude of the Indian batsmen on Day 1 and doubted their ability to cope with Kohli's absence from second Test onwards.

The Australian great said Pujara didn't rotate the strike enough with a batsman of stature like Virat Kohli during their third-wicket stand of 68 runs.

India are playing only their second Test with the pink ball, and the first overseas after making their pink-ball debut at Eden Gardens last year. 

Lyon's quicker delivery managed to get an inside edge of Pujara's bat before hitting the thigh pad and going to Marnus Labuschagne at short leg.

Asked if he felt that he could have paced his innings better, the Saurashtra man had an emphatic no for an answer.

Before falling prey to Nathan Lyon at 40, Pujara waited till the 48th over to hit his first four after coming out to bat in the first over.

Plays a sturdy 88-ball 17 knock, with no boundaries, to see off the wrath of Australian pacers while Prithvi Shaw and Mayank Agarwal perish in first session.

The legendary cricketer says he will be happy to see Pujara bat 15 of the 20 days cricket that would be played during the four-Test series.