VVS Laxman cautioned India’s batting line-up while pointing out a major area of concern for Virat Kohli’s men ahead of the anticipated tour of South Africa which begins with the three-Test series from December 26 onwards.
Ajinkya Rahane in the first innings in the 1st Test in Kanpur and Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, and Shubman Gill in the second innings in the 2nd Test in Mumbai – all have one thing in common – something which VVS Laxman pointed out while speaking on the Star Sports show Follow the Blues.
VVS Laxman: It’s Very Important Not To Repeat The Same Mistakes
All four threw away their wicket after getting set during the recently-concluded home 2 match Test series against New Zealand and VVS Laxman has expressed concern over his pattern which is developing.
“It’s very important not to repeat the same mistakes. If we saw the way Ajinkya Rahane got out in Kanpur, Pujara got out in Kanpur as well as in Mumbai, it’s almost like a pattern which is developing. Even Shubman Gill, after settling down and throwing away his wicket. So I just believe it is about converting that start into a big score, which is very critical,” he said.
The veteran former cricketer, who was a middle-order batsman explained that with India playing with five specialist batters overseas along with the all-rounder in Ravindra Jadeja, the team will need their batting line-up to play patiently and convert the starts into big figures.
“As it is, India plays with five genuine batters, then you have an all-rounder in the form of Jadeja, you then have a wicketkeeper-batter, so it is important for the top five batters to make it count once they get their eye in, once they spend time on the crease,” he added.
Ajinkya Rahane has had a horror run with the bat over the last year, which has seen his average dip to under 40(39.3). In fact, he averages a mere 19.57 in 12 Tests in 2021, his lowest average in a year since debuting in 2013.
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. Cheteshwar Pujara has done slightly better at 29.83 from the same number of games in 2021. He also averaged a mere 20.38 in 2020 as against his Test career average of 44.82.
VVS Laxman Feels India’s Batting Needs To Fire To Win Test Series In South Africa
VVS Laxman warned the Indian team that if they want to win in the tough conditions in South Africa, their final frontier, the batters need to fire.
“Somewhere or the other I feel they are repeating the mistakes and throwing away their wickets after getting set, which you cannot do if you want to perform well against good teams and especially if you want to win the series in South Africa, as a batting unit you will have to fire.”
Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel-the 2 spinners, batsman Shubman Gill, and pacer Ishant Sharma – are doubtful about the next South Africa trip as they will take some months to be completely fit after sustaining injuries which have prompted the BCCI senior selection committee to delay naming the squad for the tour of South Africa.
Ravindra Jadeja’s ligament tear will take months to heal and if he undergoes surgery, he will only get fit before the Indian Premier League 2022 next year. Shubman Gill’s shin injury has resurfaced. The youngster had missed the Test series in England due to the same problem after the WTC Final and suffered pain again while fielding during the Mumbai Test. Ishant Sharma has a side strain while Axar Patel has a stress fracture.