Indian batsman Cheteshwar Pujara on Thursday equalled former skipper Sourav Ganguly's tally of sixteen centuries in Test cricket, following an excellent 123 on Day 1 of the first Test against Australia at the Adelaide Oval.
Former cricketers Mike Atherton, Marvan Atapattu, Tillakratne Dilshan, Graham Thorpe have also accumulated the same number of centuries in their respective Test careers.
Pujara departed for 123 after being dismissed following an excellent throw by Pat Cummins, playing a key role in India registering a total of 250/9 which seemed improbable at one stage.
"To be honest, we should have batted better but they also bowled well in those first two sessions," said Pujara.
"I can`t rate it but it was one of (my) best (centuries). It was hot but I was set and I knew I could play my shots."
"Once we lost Ashwin, I thought I had to accelerate. I knew what shots I could play on that wicket," he added.
Pujara further became the sixth Indian cricketer to register a century on the opening day of a tour which has been scheduled outside Asia.
Murali Vijay, Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Vijay Manjrekar, Virat Kohli are the other five names on the list.
Not only this, the 30-year-old batsman also completed 5000 Test runs on Thursday, reaching the tally of 14,000 First Class runs at the same time.
