Cheteshwar Pujara played an instrumental role in India’s first-ever Test series victory down under by scoring 521 runs at an average of 74.72. He notched up hundreds in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney to script India’s twin victories in the series.

While the Saurashtra batsman scored 123 in the Test series opener, he hit 106 and 193 in the third and fourth Test respectively. Pujara batted for a record 1258 deliveries in the four-match Test series which is the most by an Indian batsman in a Test series down under, surpassing Rahul Dravid's previous record of 1203 balls in the 2003-04 series in Australia.

Impressed with Pujara’s herculean effort, legendary West Indian batsman Sir Vivian Richards recently hailed India’s eminent No. 3 for tormenting the Australian bowling attack with his unparalleled defence.

“Let me take this opportunity to congratulate Virat and his team for such a magnificent performance Down Under. It was always going to be tough, but you guys came out smelling sweet,” Richards had said in a video posted on Twitter.

“And to Pujara just magnificent batsmanship... I just felt real gold stuff. Well done to everyone. Magnificent performance again. Congratulations to the Indian team and to my good mate Ravi well done again,” he added.

Overwhelmed with the praising words, Pujara on Thursday (January 10) thanked Richards by tweeting: "Thank you so much Sir! Means a lot coming from someone I've looked up to!"

Richards did not stop there as he retorted to Pujara's thank you message, saying: "Keep working hard like you always have man. Wishing you all the success!"