Cheteshwar Pujara breaks Rahul Dravid's long-standing record of longest Test innings for an Indian

New Delhi: Cheteshwar Pujara and Wriddhiman Saha frustrated Australia for almost the whole of Day 4 after putting magnificent knocks of 202 and 117 respectively. En route to his double hundred, Pujara broke Rahul Dravid's long-standing record of longest Test innings by an Indian in terms of balls played.

Dravid had achieved the feat after playing 495 balls on his way to 270 runs against Pakistan in 2004. Pujara, today, beautifully constructed his innings to play a total of 525 balls and score 202 runs. (IND vs AUS, 3rd Test, Day 4 - Live Blog | Full Coverage)

The Saurashtra-born batsman's ability to stitch innings together and get the team out amid pressure situations have got the cricketing fraternity draw similarities between him and 'The Wall' Dravid. After becoming the first Indian batsman to score a century in the series, Pujara continued to make the Aussies toil by scoring his third double century, with centurion Saha as his companion.

With his double ton, Pujara became only the third Indian batsman in Test history to score two double hundreds against Australia after VVS Laxman and Sachin Tendulkar. He had earlier smashed 204 in the Hyderabad Test in 2013 and today got his second in Ranchi. Meanwhile, Laxman notched up a 281 in the Kolkata Test in 2001 and an unbeaten 200 in the Delhi Test in 2008. Tendulkar, on the other hand, got a 241* in Sydney in 2004 and 214 in Bangalore in 2010.

Behind Dravid, stays Navjot Singh Sidhu who scored 201 off 491 balls in Port-of-Spain against West Indies in 1997.

While Pujara now holds the Indian record for playing most deliveries in a Test innings, Sir Leonard Hutton holds the record overall having played 847 balls against Australia in 1938.