A day after he was left out of the Test squad for India's team touring the West Indies, Chetershwar Pujara uploaded a video of him batting. In the caption, he used emojis probably signifying 'love cricket'.
The move to leave him out on an away tour invited criticism from different quarters, with Sunil Gavaskar saying that Pujara was being made a scapegoat.
Pujara's participation in Duleep Trophy's West Zone team was later confirmed. It appears as though all the time he invested in practice paid dividends.
On Friday, the India No. 3 Test batter scored his 60th first-class hundred in the 2nd innings of West Zone's match against Central Zone.
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Pujara grinded his way to a 278-ball 133, comprising 14 fours and one six before being run-out.
Suryakumar Yadav, who registered three consecutive ducks in an ODI series against Australia earlier this year, was another player to shine for the West Zone, scoring 52 runs from 58 balls.
Pujara, who scored 28 off 102 balls in the 1st innings, took on the run-scoring initiative following early dismissals of Prithvi Shaw (25) and captain Priyank Panchal (15), forging a 95-run partnership with SKY.
With wickets tumbling around him, Pujara, a veteran of 103 international Tests, held his ground, helping his team take a lead of 384 runs by Stumps on Day 3.
