Pujara enters elite list with 50th first class century

Cheteshwar Pujara on Saturday joined a select group of cricketing greats by smashing his 50th first-class century during Saurashtra's Ranji Trophy group B match against Karnataka, here.

Pujara warmed up nicely for the upcoming Test series in New Zealand with stylish 162 off 238 balls that had 17 fours and a six.

Pujara, joined an elite list of nine Indians led by Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid.

The 31-year-old Pujara, who has 18 Test centuries on his credit, is fourth on the list of active players with most first-class centuries behind former England skipper Alastair Cook (65), former South Africa captain Hashim Amla (52) and India's domestic cricket giant Wasim Jaffer (57).

Among current active Test players, the nearest contender to Pujara is Australia's Steve Smith, who has 42 first-class centuries while his India team-mates Virat Kohli (34) and Ajinkya Rahane (32) are much behind.

Pujara (15188 before this match) already has scored more than 15,000 runs in his career, during which he has played 197 matches.