One of India's batting main-stays and a great blueprint of a modern-day wall, Cheteshwar Pujara celebrates his 32nd birthday on January 25, 1988 (Saturday). Since his debut in England in 2010, Pujara has established himself as one India's Test batting specialist. He has so far scored 5, 740 runs in 75 Test matches, which includes 18 Test hundreds and 24 half-centuries. He was instrumental to India's historic Test win in Australia in 2018 grilling the famed Aussie bowling attack to dust with long batting spells. It was also in the same tour that Pujara recorded the longest innings in terms of ball faced by an Indian batsman. He faced 523 balls in an innings in India registering an elite record. On his 32nd birthday, take a look at some interesting facts about Cheteshwar Pujara. Happy Birthday Cheteshwar Pujara: A Look at Five Top-Class Knocks by India’s Modern-Day Wall.

A contender to replace the original Wall of Indian cricket Rahul Dravid, once the legendary cricketer bid adieu to international cricket, Pujara was soon dubbed the 'new wall' of Indian cricket. He justified it initially, with a 159 against New Zealand and followed it with a match-winning double century against England in Ahmedabad. Such was his form that Pujara also become the second fastest Indian batsman to complete 1000 Test runs in international cricket. He is only next to Sunil Gavaskar in terms of matches played and the fastest by the number for innings played.

  • Cheteshwar Pujara was born to Arvind and Reema Pujara on January 25, 1988, in Rajkot, Gujarat

  • Pujara Was introduced to cricket by his father Arvind, who was a first-class cricketer for Saurashtra and played 6 matches for the State Ranji Trophy team

  • At the start of his career, Pujara was an emerging all-rounder before his coach Karsan Ghavri asked him to solely focus on batting

  • Cheteshwar Pujara Holds the record of scoring three triple centuries in a single month making him the only batsman in the world to do so

  • Pujara is Joint-fastest Indian Batsman to reach 1000 Test runs, in terms of matches played (12) and shares this elite Record with Sunil Gavaskar

  • Cheteshwar Pujara Also Holds the record of Most balls faced by an Indian Batsman in a single Test innings (525)

  • In February 2014, Cheteshwar Pujara was appointed the Brand Ambassador of Gujarat by the State Election Commission

Pujara is currently ranked 6th in the latest ICC Test rankings for batsman and recently recorded 50th first-class century joining an elite list in Indian domestic circuit.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 25, 2020 10:16 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).