Winning the toss, Sussex put Gloucestershire into bat. With 15-plus scores from nine of the 11 batters, the visitors put up 417 on the board. Sussex lost Tom Haines in the sixth over, before a century partnership for the second wicket between Tom Clark and Tom Alsop rescued their innings.

Pujara came out to bat at No.4 with the score reading 116-2. He stitched an 85-run partnership for the third wicket with Alsop before adding another 52 with James Coles for the fourth. However, wickets fell in quick succession after that as Sussex slipped from 253-3 to 286-6, with the sixth wicket being of Pujara, who was caught in a terrible mix-up.

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On the third ball of the 89th over bowled by Dominic Goodman, Pujara played a trademark backfoot punch through the covers as substitute fielder Jack Taylor fielded the ball by the boundary.

As he threw the ball, Pujara and his partner, John Simpson, both set off for the third run having already completed two. However, midway through the journey of the throw, Pujara realised that he had made a mistake as he turned back to get inside his crease. He even put in a huge dive, but to no avail as the wicketkeeper collected the throw ahead of the stumps and under-armed it into the middle stump at the striker’s end to catch Pujara short.

Following the dismissal, the Gloucestershire players were ecstatic as they ran in different directions to celebrate the wicket.  Pujara was out for 86, just 14 short of his century.

Watch Pujara get run out attempting a third run close to hundred:

This Cheteshwar Pujara run out has plenty going on

Two runs scored, a throw from the deep, a complete mix-up, stump out of the ground, players running in all directions to celebrate pic.twitter.com/GUsj55qOgu

— Vitality County Championship (@CountyChamp) April 21, 2024