According to a top BCCI official, the likes of Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara will be under the scanners, however, the sword is certain to fall on Ishant Sharma. The selectors are planning to look beyond the lanky Delhi pacer with youngsters like Mohammed Siraj and Shardul Thakur rising rapidly in the international arena.
“Rahane’s removal as vice-captain is a clear warning signal to him. As a senior member in the side, he needs to contribute more. Same is true for Pujara also. He too has been around for a long time and now the team expects him to play those crucial knocks in big games. In case they score and have a significant impact on the series, they might be able to extend their Test careers. But in the case of Ishant, this could be it,” a top BCCI official had told The Indian Express.
- In the last 12 months, the 33-year-old has played 8 Tests, taking 14 wickets at 32.71.
- Five of those wickets came in the Lord’s Test.
- Ishant has struggled to manage his workload and have gone wicketless in his last two Test matches.
- He looked completely out of rhythm in the Kanpur Test against New Zealand.
- Ishant Sharma last took a 5-wicket-haul in February 2020
The Delhi fast bowler is tied with Zaheer Khan as India’s fifth highest wicket-taker. 311 wickets each for Ishant and Zaheer but in 105 and 92 matches respectively. Among active pacers with 250 or more wickets, James Anderson has an average of 26.60, Stuart Broad – 27.92, Tim Southee – 28.19, Trent Boult – 27.67 and Mitchell Starc – 27.35.
2. IND vs SA LIVE – Ajinkya Rahane: The 33-year-old right hander has played 79 Test matches so far but his place in the squad has always currently is under huge scanner.
The Mumbai batsman has someway or the other managed to hang in but only by a thread. One more failure in South Africa will make it impossible for him to escape the axe.
- In 2019, the Mumbai batsman ended the year with 642 runs in 8 matches at an average of 71.33.
- In the following year, that dropped to 38.85 in 4 matches.
- Come 2021, the 33-year-old has scored 411 runs in 12 matches at a measly average of 19.57.
- If we dig in the stats further, the right-hander has only four centuries to his name in the last 5 years. Only two 20 plus scores have come in his last 10 innings.
Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Hanuma Vihari have been lurking around to grab a middle-order position in the famed Indian batting line-up. Not long ago, Ravindra Jadeja had walked ahead of Rahane during the England tour.
There is a possibility of Mayank Agarwal and Shubman Gill, primarily openers, playing as a middle-over batsman in the future if both KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma are available.
Options to replace Rahane are plenty.
However, Virat Kohli, after the New Zealand series win, hinted that Rahane would get a longer rope because of his ‘impact performances’ in the past.
“I cannot judge Ajinkya’s form. I think no one can judge it. The individual knows the areas of the game he needs to work hard. We need to back players who have come up with impact performances for us in the past under tough situations in key Test matches,” Virat Kohli had said in the press conference before leaving for South Africa.
3. IND vs SA LIVE – Cheteshwar Pujara: Pujara, a veteran of 92 Tests, also finds himself in the red zone. He scored a couple of fifties during England tour. The No. 3 batsman also scored 47 while opening in the second innings of the Mumbai Test against New Zealand, however, a three-figure mark has deluded him since January 2019. His technique and intent has also been under question due to his inability to convert after getting starts.
- Cheteshwar Pujara’s batting average has dipped massively in the last two years.
- He averaged 51.52 in 2019. That came down to 20.37 in four matches in 2020.
- Pujara has played 13 Test matches in 2021, scoring 686 at an average of 29.82.
- Apart from Australia, the Saurashtra star averaged below 31 in all the other SENA nations.
- The 33-year-old last scored a hundred in January 2019.
- He has reached in 90s only once after that.
Former India cricketer and India women’s coach WV Raman has suggested that Rahane and Pujara can take inspiration from current BCCI president Sourav Ganguly.
“They can draw inspiration from (former India captain and current BCCI president) Sourav Ganguly, who made a successful comeback on a tough South African tour in 2006. This tour might rejuvenate them. Both have played critical knocks for India. They should tell themselves that it’s just a matter of a good phase of three-four hours,” Raman told TOI.
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