Cheteshwar Pujara from India and Mohammad Rizwan from Pakistan featured in the Sussex County Cricket Club to put on a brilliant 154 runs stand with Pujara scoring 203 and the wicketkeeper-batter making his home debut for the club by scoring 79 runs.
India’s Cheteshwar Pujara (203) scored his third century in the third match for Sussex and Mohammad Rizwan from Pakistan featured in the Sussex County Cricket Club to put on a brilliant 154 runs stand with the neighbor.
Pujara played a classy knock of 203 and the wicketkeeper-batter made his home debut for the club by scoring 79 runs.
The pair combined the forces for a 150-plus stand at Hove as Sussex responded with a monstrous 538 after Durham bundled out on 223 in their first innings Second Division of English cricket‘s red-ball County Championship.
Durham, however, came back stronger with the hopes to draw the Test as they ended day three on 169/0 in the second innings.
Now that Pujara and Rizwan playing for the same county is a rare scenario where an Indian and Pakistani cricketer is playing under the same team.
India and Pakistan do not engage in the bilateral series due to political tensions between the countries and the teams only face each other in the multi-nation ICC events.
The South Asian rivals have played each other in the bilateral series in 2012/13 when Pakistan toured India for the white-ball series when the relationship began to get better.
Pakistan star players also do not participate in the Indian Premier League (IPL), one of the most rewarding T20I leagues in the world, happening in India.
In the First Division of the championship, uncapped Hampshire batsman Nick Gubbins raised his hope of making a debut for England after scoring his second century of the match against a Lancashire attack led by James Anderson.
The left-hander picked up his form from 101* from the first innings and 130 in the second innings to well-place Hampshire at the Ageas Bowl where all-time England leading Test wicket-taker James Anderson was bowling from Lancashire.
Hampshire was eventually dismissed at 344 at Stump’s and Lancashire was 9/0 to chase the target of 351 for victory.
Gubbins (28) made his name with 1,409 runs, including four hundred, as Middlesex won the First Division title in 2016 only for the runs to dry up the following season.
But a move south to Hampshire last year appears to have rejuvenated Gubbins and he is giving an England set-up now headed up by managing director Rob Key and new Test captain Ben Stokes a reminder of his talent.