WTC Final: 5 slowest knocks played by Cheteshwar Pujara in Test cricket

#3 17 (87) vs England, 2018

India lost the 2018 Test series against England by 1-4. While Virat Kohli was the top performer for India in that series, Cheteshwar Pujara was the third-highest run-getter with 278 runs in four Tests.

Pujara did not get a place in the playing XI for the first Test, but after India's defeat, the team management included him in the second Test. The right-handed batsman was not at his best in the second Test played at Lord's.

After managing just a solitary run in the first innings, Pujara scored 17 runs from 87 balls in the second innings, with his strike rate being 19.54. Still, India backed him and that decision paid off as Pujara went on to score 260 runs in the next three Tests.

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#2 10 (56) vs South Africa, 2010

Cheteshwar Pujara in 2010

Cheteshwar Pujara was not so experienced when the Indian team management named him in the Test squad for the 2010 South African tour. It was his first overseas tour, and as expected, Pujara could not score big in the series.

His aggregate in the two Tests against South Africa was 31, with his highest score being 19. During that tour, Pujara played one of the slowest knocks of his Test career.

Playing in the second innings of the second Test, Cheteshwar Pujara scored ten runs off 56 balls at a strike rate of 17.85. He had a 47-run stand with VVS Laxman for the fourth wicket. Interestingly, Pujara hit a boundary in that knock, meaning he scored just six runs off the other 55 balls.

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#1 Cheteshwar Pujara's slowest Test knock - 11 (81) vs New Zealand, 2020

Big error in judgement costs Cheteshwar Pujara dear!He leaves one that is angled in from Trent Boult from round the wicket and hears it crash into his off-stump to depart for 11 off 81 balls. That brings up tea in Wellington.#NZvIND pic.twitter.com/oWS31s7EcO

— ICC (@ICC) February 23, 2020

Cheteshwar Pujara's 11-run knock against New Zealand in Wellington last year was his slowest when one considers all the innings where he has scored at least ten runs.

The Blackcaps took a 183-run first-innings lead against India. In the second innings, the visitors lost Prithvi Shaw's wicket in the eighth over. Cheteshwar Pujara then joined Mayank Agarwal in the middle.

Agarwal timed the ball well in that innings and ended with 58 runs from 99 balls. Meanwhile, Cheteshwar decided to play with a defensive approach as he did not smash a single boundary in his 81-ball knock. Pujara scored 11 runs at a strike rate of 13.58 before Trent Boult rattled his stumps.