London, July 21 (UNI) Cheteshwar Pujara struck his third double century of the season for Sussex while pacer Navdeep Saini claimed a five-wicket haul on debut for Kent as Indian players continued to shine in County Cricket in England.
Pujara got his name etched in the Sussex history books as he compiled a brilliant 231 as which helped them post a massive 523 in their first innings against Middlesex at Lord’s on Wednesday.
Right-arm fast Saini made a sparkling debut for Kent against Warwickshire on Wednesday taking 5-72 at Edgbaston in Birmingham. Playing for Middlesex, fellow Indian pacer Umesh Yadav went wicket-less in Sussex’s first innings as he ended with figures of 0-70 in 29 overs.
Pujara, The India Test player became the first Sussex batter to make a double-century against Middlesex at Lord’s. The last Sussex batter to achieve 200 at the home of cricket was countryman Sir Ranjitsinhji Vibhaji II while playing against the MCC 125 years ago, according to a report in ESPNCricinfo. Earlier, he had scored an unbeaten 201 in the first match against Derby and 203 against Durham. This was his 16th double century in first-class cricket.
Pujara, who is leading the side in the absence of their regular skipper, batted for nearly nine hours most of those in torturous conditions on Tuesday as whose marathon effort had begun 24 hours earlier during London’s hottest day on record, batted almost nine hours before being last out, having steered his side to 523 – so eclipsing Sussex’s previous best score at Lord’s of 522 set in 2005.
