Former India stalwart Cheteshwar Pujara announced his retirement from Indian cricket on Sunday (August 24, 2025). Naman Agarwal ranks his 19 Test hundreds, from worst to best.
Pujara finished his Test career with 7,195 runs from 103 matches at an average of 43.60. His 19 tons are the seventh-most scored by an Indian batter in Test cricket. In the 21st century, only Rahul Dravid (30), Virat Kohli (30), Sachin Tendulkar (29), and Virender Sehwag (23) have more scored more Test centuries than Pujara among Indian batters.
Ten out of Pujara's 19 hundreds came at home, while nine came away. His two favourite oppositions in terms of scoring hundreds were Australia and England, against whom he has five centuries each. Outside India, Pujara scored three hundreds each in Australia and Sri Lanka, and one each in England, South Africa, and Bangladesh.
Some of the most impactful and memorable knocks Pujara played didn't turn out to be hundreds, but the ones that did, are ranked below.
All of Pujara's Test tons, ranked from worst to best
19. 124 vs England, Rajkot, 2016
The 2016/17 home season was a defining one for the Indian Test team. Much of India's success in that period was built on the back of Pujara's reliability at the top of the order. He scored four hundreds in that season across three different series. This one, at his home ground, on a featherbed where five other individual hundreds were scored, was arguably the easiest (if you can call a Test hundred easy) Test ton of his career.
18. 113 vs West Indies, Mumbai, 2013
Sachin Tendulkar's farewell Test at the Wankhede was graced by a Cheteshwar Pujara hundred. Having already scored a hundred at this venue a year back against England, Pujara repeated the act against a toothless West Indies bowling attack that saw Daren Sammy open the bowling on the first morning of the Test. India won comfortably by an innings and 126 runs.
17. 101* vs New Zealand, Indore, 2016
Pujara's scoring rate consistently came under the scanner in the first half of his career. At Indore, he got an opportunity to show he had different gears to his batting and grabbed it with both hands. Setting up target for New Zealand to chase in the fourth innings, India wanted Pujara to press on the accelerator in the third and he obliged, scoring a 148-ball hundred at a strike rate of nearly 70. The lasting image from this knock is of Pujara dancing down the track and smashing Trent Boult straight over his head.
16. 102* vs Bangladesh, Chattogram, 2022
Another declaration knock, this remains Pujara's last Test hundred. Having taken a 254-run lead in the first innings, Pujara and Shubman Gill both scored hundreds in the second to set up a 513-run target. Now the T20I vice-captain, Gill was outscored by Pujara in this knock, with the veteran batter scoring at a strike rate of 78 compared to Gill's 72. This is the only time Pujara crossed 100 at a strike rate above 70.
15. 119 vs England, Visakhapatnam, 2016
After the Rajkot run-fest (see No.19), Pujara continued his dominance over England by scoring a sublime ton on the first day of the second match of the series. Walking in at 6-1, Pujara and Kohli rescued India from 22-2, adding 226 for the third wicket. India made 455 and eventually won by 246 runs.
Also read: Virat Kohli's 30 Test hundreds, ranked from worst to best
14. 143 vs Sri Lanka, Nagpur, 2017
Surprisingly, this 2017 hundred by Pujara is the last one he scored at home. He made five more Test tons, each of which came outside India. In this match, India batted 176.1 overs, of which 60.2 were faced by Pujara alone. He remained at the crease for double that time – 121 overs – as India piled up 610-6, enough to win the match by an innings.
13. 159 vs New Zealand, Hyderabad, 2012
Pujara's first Test ton was converted into a 150-plus score. New Zealand went in with a seam-heavy attack with Jeetan Patel the only frontline spinner in the XI. Patel dismissed Pujara, but not before he had reached his maiden Test hundred two years after his debut. Rahul Dravid had retired earlier that year following the Australia tour. With this innings, Pujara proved that he was ready to take over.
12. 153 vs Sri Lanka, Galle, 2017
The 2015 tour to Sri Lanka had been a fruitful one for Pujara. Returning to the island nation for another Test series two years later, he started from right where he had left. Together with Shikhar Dhawan, he added 253 runs for the second wicket on the first day of the first Test, announcing that India were there to dominate.
11. 133 vs Sri Lanka, Colombo, 2017
A 304-run victory in the first Test was followed by an innings win in the second for India. The common factor? A Cheteshwar Pujara hundred on day one. Sri Lanka included left-arm spinner Malinda Pushpakumara in the XI to support Rangana Herath and Dilruwan Perera, but it didn't matter. India scored 622, Sri Lanka were bowled out twice before reaching that mark.
Also read: Rohit Sharma's Test hundreds, ranked from worst to best
10. 135 vs England, Mumbai 2012
Remembered primarily for Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar running through the Indian batting, the 2012 Mumbai Test also saw Pujara score a first-innings ton on a red-soil Wankhede surface that had significant turn and bounce. He faced 350 balls when no other Indian batter faced more than 114. Having shown the ability to bat big with his first two Test hundreds, he displayed his expertise against spin on challenging wickets with his third.
9. 204 vs Australia, Hyderabad, 2013
Pujara's next hundred after the Wankhede ton against England was a double ton against Australia. Together with M Vijay (167), Pujara added a mammoth 370 runs for the second wicket. Australia's spin attack wasn't the greatest – a debutant Glenn Maxwell was the support spinner to Xavier Doherty – and Pujara took full toll. Less than three years into his career, he had made four hundreds, two of which were doubles and three above 150. By now, Pujara had shown that the run-gluttony in domestic cricket that had catapulted him to the Test side was no fluke.
8. 193 vs Australia, Sydney, 2019
Pujara capped off the legacy-defining 2018/19 Border-Gavaskar Trophy with a near-double at the SCG. Having already taken an unassailable 2-1 lead and beaten the Australian bowlers down to a pulp with his relentless batting, Pujara scored his third century of the series in the last match, which, if not for rain, was headed towards another Indian victory. If tired bowlers made Pujara's job slightly easier, the knowledge that his father – also his childhood coach – was undergoing surgery back home only made it harder.
Also read: Joe Root’s 37 Test tons, ranked from worst to best
7. 202 vs Australia, Ranchi, 2017
As far as records are available, this knock of 525 balls by Pujara is the only instance of an Indian batter having faced more than 500 balls in an innings. With the series level at 1-1 after two Tests and Australia having piled up 451 in the first innings of the third, India were under pressure to respond well. On a surface that offered very little for either batters or bowlers, Pujara dug in, occupying the crease for more than 11 hours and compiling the third and final double ton of his Test career.
6. 206 vs England, Ahmedabad, 2012
Pujara's second Test hundred was a double ton, coming in the first match of the 2012 home series against England. On a flat surface, Pujara came out to bat in the 30th over of the first innings and wasn't dismissed in the 130.1 more overs India batted. India declared on 521-8, and had to chase a small target of 80 in the final innings. This was the only match they won in the series, losing two of the next three to lose the series 2-1. Their next home series defeat only came 13 years later. Pujara had a big role to play in the dominance.
5. 106 vs Australia, Melbourne, 2018
After losing the second Test in Perth, India made a double change at the top of the order, handing a debut to Mayank Agarwal and using Hanuma Vihari as makeshift opener. That increased the pressure on the experienced Pujara at No.3 to hold the batting together, which he happily did. Batting for 319 balls, Pujara made 106 and helped India put more and more overs into the Australian bowlers' legs. They declared on 443-8, collapsed in the second innings to 106-8, but still managed to win by 137 runs, thanks largely to the platform set up by Pujara on the first two days.
4. 153 vs South Africa, Johannesburg, 2013
India's 2013/14 Test tour of South Africa was their first Test assignment since Tendulkar's retirement. Dravid and Laxman were gone as well. However, the question marks over the long-term future of Indian batting were answered in Johannesburg by Kohli and Pujara. Kohli scored a first innings ton at No.4, Pujara scored a second innings hundred at No.3. Before that knock, Dravid was the only Indian Test No.3 to have scored a hundred in the country. Now, Dravid and Pujara are the only two. The fact that it came against a bowling attack of Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Vernon Philander, Jacques Kallis and Imran Tahir only accentuates the value of the innings in the context of both his career, and Indian cricket.
3. 132* vs England, Southampton, 2018
Pujara's only Test hundred in England came in the 2018 tour in Southampton against a bowling lineup of James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Sam Curran, Ben Stokes, Adil Rashid, and Moeen Ali. In a series where batting was challenging in general with the Dukes ball doing loads, Pujara stood firm at one end, playing one of the finest knocks of his career. The next highest scorer for India in the first innings was Kohli with 46. Pujara's knock helped India get a 27-run lead, but they weren't able to get over the line in the 245-run chase, falling short by 60 runs.
2. 145* vs Sri Lanka, Colombo, 2015
Arguably the most important knock in the context of Pujara's career. He was recalled to the XI as an opener for the third Test of the series after being dropped due to a poor run of form and complaints about his tempo of scoring. He responded with an innings for the ages, scoring 145 out of a team total of 312, carrying his bat through while batting in an unfamiliar position. No other Indian batter in the top eight scored 30. India eventually won by 117 runs, and Pujara forced himself back to India's starting XI.
1. 123 vs Australia, Adelaide, 2018
Pujara made 13 scores higher than 123 in his Test career, but none would have been as impactful as his Adelaide knock. A series-defining ton on the first day of the first Test against the most complete bowling attack in contemporary Test cricket set the tone for what was to follow. Pujara accounted for nearly 50 per cent of India's first innings runs and followed it up with 71 more out of 307 in the second innings. India won the Test, and ended up winning the series – a historic first in Australia. With his three hundreds, Pujara was the chief architect of the victory, the foundation of which was laid by this Adelaide epic.
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