Cheteshwar Pujara scored his maiden century in T20 cricket on Thursday, as his side Saurashtra posted an imposing total of 188 for three against Railways in the stipulated 20 overs quota of Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. The Railways batsmen fired in unison with openers Mrunal Devdhar and Pratham Singh laying foundation with 73-run stand in six overs. And contributions from Abhinav Dixit, Ashish Yadav and Harsh Tyagi made the Railways achieve the target in 19.4 overs to win the match by five wickets.
During Saurashtra’s innings, Pujara scored an impressive 100 not out from just 61 deliveries, at a strike rate of over 163, including 16 boundaries and a six. Pujara became the first batsman for Saurashtra to reach the three-figure mark in the shortest format of the game. After losing the toss, Saurashtra was asked to bat first and openers Harvik Desai and Pujara provided a solid start. Following the departure of Desai (34 runs), Robin Uthappa contributed 46 runs to the scoreboard. AshishYadav turned out to be the most successful bowler for Railways, finishing with 1/30 in the 4 overs. Supporting Ashish were Anureet Singh and Amit Mishra picking up a wicket each.
