The 24-year-old Pujara scored an unbeaten 206 and batted for close to nine hours before the hosts declared the first innings at 521 for eight shortly after the tea break on the second day and then reduced the visitors to a precarious 41 for three at stumps.
Captain Alastair Cook (22) and Kevin Pietersen (6) were the two unbeaten batsmen at close with England still needing 281 runs to avoid the follow. Nick Compton (9), James Anderson (2) and Jonathan Trott (0) are the three batsmen back in the pavilion on a Sardar Patel track which has already started taking turn.
It was Pujara who hogged the limelight as he not only recorded his second Test century in his sixth match but showed his class with some glorious shots on both sides of the wicket.
The left-handed Yuvraj Singh, playing his first Test since recovering from a rare germ cell cancer, was the other notable performer with a fluent 74 while captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (5) and R Ashwin (23) and Zaheer Khan (7) could not hang around for long.
Off-spinner Graeme Swann was the pick of the English bowlers with figures of 51-8-144-5, recording his 14th five wicket haul in an innings.
