Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara are under pressure which is only going to increase every time they don’t make a big score in the forthcoming months with India set to play more red-ball cricket, as a veteran wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik has said. The duo of Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara failed to go past 50 on Day 1 of India’s first Test against New Zealand.
Ajinkya Rahane And Cheteshwar Pujara Would Be Undoubtedly Disappointed: Dinesh Karthik
While Ajinkya Rahane has not scored a century since December 2020- a memorable 112 against Australia, Cheteshwar Pujara hasn’t scored a ton since he made 193 against Australia in January 2019. Ajinkya Rahane is averaging just 20.35 this year from 12 Tests while Cheteshwar Pujara has done slightly better at 30.85 from the same number of games in 2021 but had a horrid time in 2020, averaging only 20.38 in 4 Tests.
“They would be disappointed, no doubt. There has been this word out that they need to score hundreds because they haven’t in some time and with every match that pressure seems to increase,” Karthik said.
“Since Test matches were played sporadically, they have not been in the spotlight as often in the recent past. There has been a lot of white-ball cricket recently so it has kind of gone under the radar but once Test cricket starts in full tilt again, they will come under the spotlight every time they don’t score runs. With every game the voices from outside will seem to get louder,” said Karthik.
Ajinkya Rahane, who is India’s captain for the first Test, fell after scoring 35 off 63 balls while Cheteshwar Pujara, the vice-captain of the team in Kanpur, scored 26 in 88 balls. Ajinkya Rahane came in at No.4, which is usually the spot that Virat Kohli bats in but the latter has been rested for the first Test.
Dinesh Karthik: Shreyas Iyer’s Ton Might Put Cheteshwar Pujara And Ajinkya Rahane’s Position In Jeopardy But Rahul Dravid May Help The Pair
Debutant Shreyas Iyer, who came in his place at No.5, ended up batting through the rest of the day and scoring 75 off 136 balls on the 1st day. India was in a shaky spot after the dismissals of Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane but Shreyas Iyer’s 113-run stand with Ravindra Jadeja, who was not out on 50 off 100 balls at the end of the day, put India in a commanding position.
Dinesh Karthik said that Shreyas Iyer’s performance might put Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane’s position in the team under question but head coach Rahul Dravid could help the pair.
“Now, Shreyas Iyer walks in at No.5 and scores a fifty. If he goes on to make a hundred and then does well in the next game, what are they going to do when they go to South Africa (for their upcoming tour starting December). Are they going to hold on to him or one of these two? These are the big questions that Rahul Dravid has to answer.”
“Having said that, Rahul Dravid knows the value of someone like Pujara or Rahane. I think somewhere, the quality of Rahul Dravid will come out through these two batters because they have very similar methods and styles of play. So maybe, he feels that he can get the best out of them and he might act as the catalyst to get their Test careers propelling forward,” said Karthik.
Shreyas Iyer on Friday became the 16th Indian batter to score a century on Test debut. Shreyas Iyer, who was presented his maiden Test cap by Sunil Gavaskar on Day 1 of the Kanpur Test against New Zealand, started off his Test career in style, finishing the day on 75 not out. And early morning on Day 2, the 26-year-old batter knocked off 25 runs to join an elite list of Indian batters.
Among those to score a century on Test debut for India are the likes of Mohammad Azharuddin, Sourav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag, Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, and Prithvi Shaw. Before Shreyas Iyer, Prithvi Shaw was the last India batter to register a three-digit score in 2018, scoring 134 against West Indies.