After getting dropped from Indian test team, Cheteshwar Pujara smashes century in Duleep Trophy semi-final

Cheteshwar Pujara was dropped from India's test squad following poor performance in the ICC WTC final.

Cheteshwar Pujara made an outstanding comeback in the Duleep Trophy semifinal against Central Zone. Pujara smashed a century for West Zone to answer his critics. He was recently dropped from the 16-member Indian test squad for WI tour. Pujara was penalised for not scoring many runs in the test format this year, as he failed to put a challenge against Australian bowlers in the Border - Gavaskar Trophy earlier this year and then in the World Test Championship Final against them at The Oval. Pujara stood like a wall against Central Zone attack to help West Zone put up a target closer to 400 in the Duleep Trophy semifinal. 

In the first innings, Cheteshwar Pujara could only score 28 runs in his more than 2-hour long stay at the wicket. Shivam Mavi rattled West Zone batting with his pace bowling and picked up 6 wickets including Cheteshwar Pujara, Sarfaraz Khan, and Suryakumar Yadav in the top order. West Zone posted 220 runs on the board in the first innings and in reply, Central Zone could only manage to score 128 runs. Taking a lead of 92, West Zone began their innings positively. Cheteshwar Pujara lacked support from the other end otherwise the score could have been bigger. 

As of the current score update, Cheteshwar Pujara is unbeaten on 133 and West Zone have only one wicket in hand. Pujara with this century has given a message to the Indian selectors. Sarfaraz Khan failed miserably in both innings and failed to cross the single-digit. Sarfaraz Khan scored a duck in the first and six runs in the second innings of the game. Suryakumar Yadav scored 52 runs in the second innings. West Zone are defending champions of the Duleep Trophy. In the second semifinal of the Duleep Trophy South Zone require 215 runs against North Zone.