Cheteshwar Pujara breaks Gautam Gambhir's eight-year-old record

Cheteshwar Pujara has been the bedrock of India's marathon 13-Test home season. Continuing his breakout season, the Saurashtra batsman today eclipsed Gautam Gambhir's record of scoring most runs in a Test season for India. Pujara, who came to bat on the second day of the ongoing fourth and final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia, got off the mark by a thumping boundary off Josh Hazlewood and bettered Gambhir's eight-year-old record. Gambhir had scored 1269 runs in the 2008-09 season. However, Pujara, with 1316 runs, is now second on the list of batsmen with most Test runs in a season. Former Australia batsman Ricky Ponting is on top with 1483 runs (2005-06 season). After Murali Vijay's dismissal, Pujara went on to slam his 15th half-century to cement India's position against Australia's first innings total of 300. The number three batsman was solid in his defence and capitalised whenever the Australians bowled over-pitched deliveries directed at his pads. However, Pujara was dismissed soon after on 57 by off-spinner Nathan Lyon. Pujara, considered a Test specialist, batted for over 11 hours in the drawn third Test in Ranchi to score 202. Pujara has been in ominous form throughout the home season. He amassed a staggering 373 runs with an average of 74 in the three-Test series against New Zealand. In the five-Test series against England, Pujara scored 401 runs at an average of 50. And then against Bangladesh in the one-off Test, Pujara slammed 137 runs. Meanwhile, in the ongoing series vs Australia, Pujara is the second-highest run-scorer with 405 runs, behind Steve Smith (482 runs).