Test specialist Cheteshwar Pujara roared back to form with his 42nd first-class hundred as Saurashtra scored 341 for 5 at stumps in a group B Ranji Trophy encounter against Jharkhand. Pujara held anchor remaining unbeaten 125 at the end of the day's play an innings that had 18 boundaries while facing 223 deliveries.
Pujara has gone through a rough patch with his sequence of scores in last 10 first-class innings being 9 (Test), 18, 34, 28, 4, 0, 14, 12, 35 and 13.
Saurashtra were in trouble at 46 for 3 inside 14 overs when Pujara was joined by other India international Ravindra Jadeja (42, 71 balls) as they added 88 runs for the fourth wicket.
However, the 137-run stand between Pujara and Prerak Mankad (85) got Saurashtra in a comfortable position. Mankad hit 12 boundaries and a six in 118 balls.
Pujara also added 70 runs for the sixth wicket with Chirag Jani (40 batting).
Brief Scores
At Rajkot: Saurashtra 341/5 (Cheteshwar Pujara 125 batting, Ravindra Jadeja 42, Prerak Mankad 85, Chirag Jani 40 batting, Ashish Kumar 3/50) vs Jharkhand.
At Valsad: Gujarat 236 (Bharghav Merai 52, Amit Mishra 4/63). Haryana 0/1.
At Thumba: Kerala 219 (Sanju Samson 112, Parveez Rasool 6/70). Jammu and Kashmir 16/0.
