The day when Cheteshwar Pujara made IPL fifty during RCB vs PBKS match

Cheteshwar Pujara, known for his rock-solid defense, played few matches in the Indian Premier League. For Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), the former India international had a half-century during IPL 2013. It was his only fifty in his entire IPL career. So, how's the IPL half century made by the 'Test specialist' Cheteshwar Pujara? 

Royal Challengers Bengaluru vs Punjab Kings (RCB vs PBKS), IPL 2013: Pujara went on to register his solitary IPL fifty at Mohali. He was the opener of RCB with Chris Gayle on the other side of the crease—a combination of a hard hitter and a cool, composed batter. Both of the openers scored half centuries to provide RCB a solid foundation to build a towering total around.

Gayle scored 61 off 33 in style, while Pujara claimed 51 off 48 with a 106.25 strike rate, powered by 8 boundaries. The pair of Pujara and Gayle stitched an opening wicket partnership of 102 runs, and RCB put 190/3 on the scoreboard. AB de Villiers boosted up the run rate by scoring an unbeaten 38 off 19 deliveries.

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David Miller pulled the trigger to win the duel 

Pujara's half-century could have been more memorable if RCB had managed to win the game. But it was PBKS who left the field as the winner. In 18 overs, Kings successfully chase down the target with the help of David Miller's unbeaten 101-run innings. Miller was the man of the match for his dominating batting. 

Cheteshwar Pujara participated in 5 IPL seasons with 3 different teams. He made his IPL debut with Kolkata Knight Riders in 2009, then he joined RCB and stayed there for three seasons before making a shift to Punjab Kings, where Pujara played his last IPL match in 2014. Throughout his IPL career, the right-handed batter played 30 matches to score a total of 390 runs at an average of 20.52. That 51-run innings against PBKS remained as his highest score.