London: Indian batting stalwart Cheteshwar Pujara reached his second double century since joining Sussex, to give the hosts a superb chance to secure their first win of the season in the LV Insurance County Championship.

However, in the final half of the day on Saturday, an unbroken opening stand of 169 between Alex Lees and Sean Dickson gave Durham a chance of saving the match, after they had conceded a first-innings lead of 315.

Dickson completed his century just before the close, off 137 balls, while Lees finished with unbeaten on 50.

 

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Earlier, Sussex had continued to dominate their fixture against one of the favourites for promotion as their overseas stars Pujara and Mohammad Rizwan put on 154 for the sixth wicket.

Pujara scored 203, his second double century in three matches, while Rizwan found his form on his home debut with an innings of 79 as Sussex piled on 538. 

Pujara's knock came to an end after lasting at the crease for a whopping 118 overs when he was stumped off the last ball of the 152nd over of the innings.

Pujara has returned scores of 6, 201 not out, 109 and 203 in the four innings that he has played so far. With his latest feat, Pujara equalled a 28-year-old record as he became the second Indian after former Indian skipper Mohammad Azharuddin to make two double hundreds in the English County Championship. This was also Pujara's 15th double hundred in his first-class career.

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