Pujara's ton lifts Saurashtra

Cheteshwar Pujara cracked an unbeaten century to help Saurashtra reach 325 for four on the penultimate day of their four-day Ranji Trophy Elite division match against Tamil Nadu in Rajkot on Tuesday.

The visitors, who scored a mammoth 500 for 8 in the first innings, grabbed two wickets early this morning before Pujara and Sitanshu Kotak started the rescue work.

Kanaiya Vaghela was first to be dismissed without adding to his overnight 21, while Sagar Jogiyani made 49 off 97 balls with nine boundaries.

But Kotak and Pujara took up the responsibility and kept rotating the strike. The duo added 216 runs for the third wicket before Kotak 84 (220b,11x4) was caught behind the wicket off R Jesuraj.

Saurashtra suffered another blow when captain Jaydev Shah went back without opening his account. But Pujara, who cracked his second Ranji Trophy hundred off 151 balls with 19 boundaries, added another 32 valuable runs for unfinished fifth wicket with Pratik Mehta.

The 18-year-old was unbeaten on 145 (245b, 23x4) with Mehta (3 not out) when stumps were drawn. Saurashtra are trailing by 175 runs and still need another 25 to avoid a follow-on.

For Tamil Nadu, Jesuraj was the most succesful bowler capturing three for 60, while R Naresh took one for 44.

Scorecard:

Tamil Nadu 1st innings: 500 for 8 declared

Saurashtra 1st innings: (Overnight score: 70 for no loss)
K Vaghela b Jesuraj 21
S Jogiyani c Vijay b Jesuraj 49
S Kotak c Kumar b Jesuraj 84
C Pujara not out 145
J Shah c Mahesh b Naresh 0
P Mehta not out 3

Extras (b: 5, lb: 4, w: 3, nb: 11) 23

Total (for 4 wickets in 118 overs) 325

Fall of wickets: 1-74, 2-77, 3-293, 4-294.

Bowling: Y Mahesh 27-6-94-0, R Jesuraj 30-12-60-3, R Naresh 20-7-44-1, R Sathish 22-7-59-0, C Suresh 15-2-43-0, R Prasanna 1-1-0-0, K Vasudevadas 3-0-16-0.