Central essentially started the day on a bright note, firing Sarfaraz Khan in the first over of the day.

The youngster from Mumbai brushed aside left-arm spinner Saurabh Kumar for striker Upendra Yadav, who grabbed a fairly easy chance. It also put an end to his poor performance as he scored 0 and 6 points.

Central bowlers continued to trouble the batsmen at the other end, but Pujara was undeterred. The Saurashtra star signaled his intent as early as the first session, hitting 102 balls for 42 runs with three fours.

Pujara, as befits him, eliminated all risks from his game at this stage and hit only those balls that deserved to be hit.

Heth Patel, who scored 27 points, made key points in this period, and the righty was also very easy on the eye.

Pujara left for lunch with 92 points and almost wasted no time in reaching that mark upon his return. Pujara scored Saurabh a pair of foursomes, one through the cover and one behind the pointfielder, and thus brought his score to a hundred.

Once he passed the milestone, Pujara turned into another player. Saurabh and off-spinner Saransh Jain, who took seven wickets in total, crossed swords.

Pujara also executed some attractive strikes, and his six from Saurabh was stunning. The ball lay on his foot and Pujara sent it flying over mid-wicket with a simple movement of his hand.

Then there were those archetypal