Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar believes that India should move on from Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane as the duo had struggled in the series against South Africa as the hosts beat India by 2-1 in 3 match series.
India’s next assignment in Test cricket will be a 2-match series in February-March at home. Gavaskar said that India would be looking to replace the experienced duo in the upcoming series. Gavaskar also suggested the replacements as he felt that Iyer would be an automatic choice as the Mumbai batter scored a Test century on his test debut at Kanpur against New Zealand in November last year.
Rahane scored 136 runs in this series against South Africa while Pujara added only 124 runs
“I think that not just Ajinkya Rahane (will be out of the team). Shreyas Iyer got an opportunity in the Test series against New Zealand and he scored a well-crafted century. He scored decent runs throughout the series, so I believe there will be two vacant places in the XI,” Sunil Gavaskar said on air during the third day in the Cape Town Test.
Gavaskar also suggested a replacement for Pujara as well. The legendary batter feels that Hanuma Vihari should get a go at no.3. Notable that he played the Johannesburg Test as Virat Kohli missed out on the second Test due to an upper back spasm. Vihari scored a composed 40 in the second innings as he was left stranded.
“I think both Pujara and Rahane will be dropped from the team for the Sri Lanka series. Iyer and Vihari will both play. We’ll have to see who plays at no.3. Hanuma Vihari may take Pujara’s place and Shreyas Iyer could be no.5 in place of Rahane, but we will have to see. Nevertheless, I think there will certainly be two spots up for grabs against Sri Lanka,” he added.
Rahane scored 136 runs in 6 innings in this series while Pujara added only 124 runs in the same no. of innings. Pujara hasn’t scored a Test hundred since January 2019. In fact, the duo’s numbers are very poor in the last year or so. Since January 2021, Rahane scored 547 runs in 27 innings with an average of 20.25 which included only 3 fifties. Pujara scored 810 runs in 30 innings with an average of 27.93 which included 7 fifties.
The first test between India and Sri Lanka will be played from February 25 in Bengaluru which will be Virat Kohli’s 100th Test match.