Cheteshwar Pujara further stamped his authority as India's most dependable batsman in Test cricket as he notched up his 17th hundred in the ongoing third Test match against Australia at the MCG.

Pujara's century came off 280 deliveries and included 10 fours. The 30-year-old danced down the pitch to spinner Nathan Lyon and clipped an off-drive to the boundary to register his second century in the current series against Australia.

This was also his fourth century against Australia and his slowest in the format. Overall, this was the third slowest hundred for an Indian batsman, behind Ravi Shastri (307 balls at SCG in 1992) and Sunil Gavaskar (286 balls at Adelaide in 2985).

Pujara surpassed former India captain Sourav Ganguly's record of 16th Test hundreds while he equalled VVS Laxman's record of 17th hundreds. Pujara is the fifth India batsman to slam a hundred in Boxing Day Test after Sachin Tendulkar (1996), Virender Sehwag (2003), Virat Kohli (2014) and Ajinkya Rahane (2014).

Pujara also went past 2000 Test runs away from home during the course of his knock.

Pujara's innings was all about patience. Since January 2017, Pujara is the only batsman to face over 4000 balls in Test cricket.

He was finally dismissed on 106 by Pat Cummins.