Watch: Cheteshwar Pujara strokes first List A half-century since 2018

Watch: Cheteshwar Pujara struck his first List A fifty since 2018, scoring 63 in 71 balls in a 2022 One-Day Cup clash between Sussex and Gloucestershire.

On Tuesday, India’s Test No.3 played his first white-ball game in three years, when he took the field in Sussex’s opening game of the ongoing One-Day Cup, against Nottinghamshire on Tuesday. Named the captain of the side in the absence of regular captain Tom Haines, who is recovering from an injury, Pujara did not have the greatest comeback to the format, scoring nine in 16 balls. However, he managed to turn around his fortunes in Sussex’s second game of the competition, stroking his 30th List A half-century against Gloucestershire.

Walking in to bat at No.4 with the team scorecard reading 72-2, Pujara anchored the innings to perfection, reaching his fifty in 57 deliveries. His innings was laced with four boundaries and came at a strike rate of 88.73. Sussex ended with 334-9 in their 50 overs.

Pujara, an illustrious Test batter, boasts of highly impressive List A numbers as well. Before the game against Gloucestershire, he had made 4,454 runs in 104 matches at an average of 53.66, which remains the second-best by an India batter with a minimum of 100 appearances. Overall, he has the fourth-best List A average in the history of the game (min. 100 innings). However, he failed to translate his success on the international stage.

The 34-year-old made his ODI debut in 2013, and played a total of five games, scoring 51 runs at an average of 10.20. His last ODI outing was in 2014.