NEW DELHI: Top order batsman
Cheteshwar Pujara scored his maiden century in T20 cricket on Thursday, as he took his side Saurashtra to a towering 188 for three against
Railways
on the opening day of the Syed
Mushtaq Ali Trophy
in Indore.
Chasing the huge target, Railways batsmen fired in unison with openers Mrunal Devdhar and Pratham Singh laying the foundation with 73-run stand in just six overs. Abhinav Dixit, Ashish Yadav and Harsh Tyagi also chipped in with handy contributions as Railways achieved the target in 19.4 overs to win the match by five wickets.
Pujara took the Railways' bowlers to the cleaners, scoring 100 not out off just 61 balls.
Pujara’s knock, which was scored at a strike rate of over 163, included 16 boundaries and a six.
With this century Pujara also became the first batsman for Saurashtra to reach the three-figure mark in the shortest format.
Put into bat after losing the toss, openers Harvik Desai and Pujara provided Saurashtra a solid start. The duo shared a 85-run stand for the opening wicket, before Desai (34 off 24 balls) was dismissed by Ashish Yadav.
Pujara then stitched a 82-run partnership with
Robin Uthappa (46) taking his team towards a big total.
For Railways, the decision to bowl first backfired as a sublime Pujara along with other Saurashtra batsmen clubbed the bowlers all around the park.
Ashish Yadav was the most successful bowler for Railways, taking 1/30 in his quota of four overs.
Along with Ashish, Anureet Singh and Amit Mishra took a wicket apiece.