Pujara and Rahane will be dropped from Indian squad, says Sunil Gavaskar: Former Indian legendary cricketer Sunil Gavaskar reckons both Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane will be dropped from playing11 following their extended poor run in the ongoing South Africa test series.
Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane, both, have felt the raze and heat which has only grown bigger with time. The former batsman was dismissed for 9 runs while the latter scored a mere 1 run in the second innings of the ongoing third test match to end his South Africa test tour.
Pujara and Rahane have been India’s hard rock when it comes to the test cricket. For years, both the batsman have proved their worth in gold, however, the recent past hasn’t been kind to them, largely due to their poor form and inconsistency.
While Rahane hasn’t brought up a century after his heroics in Melbourne in 2020-21, Pujara’s form isn’t encouraging either. His bat hasn’t scored a ton for the last three years. Though some odd half-centuries have come their way, but that also faded away as the aforementioned two batsmen were highly inconsistent.
Gavaskar reckons that both Rahane and Pujara will be dropped from India’s test playing11 for the upcoming Sri Lanka series. Potent batsman Shreyas Iyer and Hanuma Vihari, who have been warming the benches, will be given the chance for the series.
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“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.
Hanuma Vihari was brought back to Indian playing11 in the second test match as Virat’s replacement. The batsman scored 20 and unbeaten 40 in the match. His second innings knock was crucial for India as his well-composed 40 runs provided India with a much-needed cushion.
“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,” Gavaskar added
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