Cheteshwar Pujara achieved a unique and surely unwanted feat on Wednesday during the last day of the second Test between South Africa and India in Centurion.

Pujara was run out early in the day for 19 thanks to a brilliant effort from AB de Villiers and Quniton de Kock. Pujara's run-out in the second innings meant that he fell short of his crease for the second time in the same match. In the first innings, he was out for a duck as he was run-out by Lungi Ngidi.

This was the first time an Indian was run out twice in the same match. This was also the first time in 18 years a batsman was run-out twice in the same game. Stephen Fleming was the last one to fall short twice of his crease back in 2000 against Zimbabwe.

Cheteshwar Pujara becomes first Indian player to get run-out TWICE in a Test.

First such instance in Test cricket in 18 years.#SAvIND #INDvSA — Rajneesh Gupta (@rgcricket) January 17, 2018



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Pujara has now been part of six of India's last eight run-outs in Tests. A run-out in the West Indies cost him a place in the side one could say.

Pujara's wicket turned out to be the turning point in the game as he and Parthiv Patel started the day off well. Parthiv fell soon after and Hardik Pandya and Ravichandran Ashwin followed suit. The incoming Mohammed Shami did provide some support to Rohit Sharma, with the duo stitching together a 54-run stand for the eighth wicket. But once Rohit fell for 47, Shami and Jasprit Bumrah couldn't last long enough and India were handed a 135-run defeat at SuperSport Park.

With the victory, the hosts have taken an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.

The defeat also meant that India lost their first-ever Test series under Virat Kohli. It also brings to an end India's nine-series winning streak which had started in 2015. After losing a four-Test series in Australia in 2014-15, India went to Sri Lanka and beat the islanders 2-1 in Kohli's first full series as captain.

Pujara's start to 2018 has not been ideal according to his standards surely. He has been in tremendous form in the last few years and in 11 Tests in 2017, Pujara has scored 1140 runs including four hundreds. The gutsy 202 against Australia in Ranchi was his highest in the calender year but there have been other vital contributions as well. Scores of 92 and 57 either side of that epic double hundred were perhaps among Pujara's most vital knocks.



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