The former Indian legendary cricketer Sunil Gavaskar was not looking pleased with the continuous criticism towards experienced Indian batsmen Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane as both the senior Indian batsman never looked in good touch in the last couple of years. These two Indian batsmen along with captain Virat Kohli are considered to be pillars of India’s middle order. But these player’s performances have dipped down as they are averaging in the 20s this year.
There were many debates about Pujara and Rahane’s place in the Indian side ahead of the India Tour of England. But both the batsman got an opportunity to perform their respective roles but couldn’t bring out the desired result.
Pujara’s scores in the last three innings in England so far are 4,12*,9 whereas Rahane scored 5 and 1 in the two innings he played. The former Indian cricketer pointed out that none of the Indian batsmen are not performing consistently apart from Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul. These two are the only batsman who has performed consistently in the series so far.
Sunil Gavaskar said that “He was the highest run-scorer for India at the WTC final with 49. So nobody else has scored runs in this period, to be honest, but questions have been asked only about two cricketers. They are low-profile cricketers. They are not going to rib their shirt off and create a scene (if they are dropped)”.
There was a big expectation from the middle-order batsmen Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara to come good in this series. And, so far in this series, their performance has been disappointing. But there this big plus for India in this series so far has been the performance of the openers like Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul. Even in the first innings of the second test they the opening pair of Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul put India in a commanding position by scoring 83 and 129 runs respectively. Whereas the middle-order batsman Pujara and Rahane got out to low-scores in that innings.
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Sunil Gavaskar also felt that if these two experienced players are getting out match after match in the same fashion. Then questions must be raised also on their support staff too.
Sunil Gavaskar added by saying that “Just let Ajinkya Rahane play. Yes, if he does not score runs here there is a cause for concern but that cause for concern has to be regarding his technical abilities, with Pujara as well. The way he has got out in Australia playing down the wrong, being beaten by the outswinger nothing has changed so far as that is concerned. So what is happening? Who is the one to take care of it? Not just Pujara. There’s a staff there. If you are getting out in the same manner, then there is something wrong not just with your technique but also the guys who are supposed to help you”.
