It doesn’t look good to see Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane battling for runs. Both of them are such players who have not only saved matches for Team India but have also won a lot of matches but nowadays, their form has been very bad for some time now which is really a matter of concern. In the current series, there has also been a lot of excellent bowling spells from South African bowlers. The pitches are also very challenging too.
Even if there was any other batsman here, he would have been seen battling for runs. Whenever someone says that now it is time to drop them from the team, it hurts me. The Indian team in the recent past, could have never been imagined without these two players. If the selectors take a decision on their replacement for the next home series against Sri Lanka, then it will be a very difficult decision. Rahane, who is being considered as the big villain today, this player stood like a strong rock on the Melbourne pitch and he emerged as the hero of that victory but if it is said that now the time has come to drop these two batsmen it would be hasty. If the selectors and team management take a tough decision in this regard, then it will be the beginning of a new era in Indian cricket.
There is no doubt that today’s young players are performing very well. There are a lot of expectations from Shubman Gill and Prithvi Shaw in the future. Hanuma Vihari and Shreyas Iyer are set to replace them. Not only this, players from Priyank Panchal to Ruturaj Gaikwad, Abhimanyu Easwaran etc. have also performed brilliantly in domestic cricket. This shows that India’s bench strength is very strong. Several players exist to take the place of one player. In fact, they are waiting for their turn.
The author is a coach of Virat Kohli and a Dronacharya Awardee.