Dinesh Karthik believes that India head coach Rahul Dravid might act as a catalyst for Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara’s careers, as the veteran batters’ struggle for runs continues, having fallen cheaply on Day 1 of the ongoing first Test against New Zealand in Kanpur on November 25.
Rahane has not scored a century since December 2020, while Pujara hasn't scored a ton since he made 193 against Australia in January 2019.
On the opening day of the ongoing first Test, Rahane fell after scoring 35 off 63 balls, while Pujara made just 26 off 88 balls against New Zealand.
Reacting to Rahane and Pujara’s struggle for form, Karthik said that the pressure is only going to increase every time on the veteran batters if they don't make a big score in the coming months, but feels Dravid can act as a catalyst for Rahane and Pujara’s Test careers to propel forward.
Karthik told Cricbuzz, “Rahul Dravid knows the value of someone like Pujara or Rahane. I think somewhere; the quality of Rahul Dravid will come out through these two batters because they have very similar methods and styles of play. So maybe, he feels that he can get the best out of them and he might act as the catalyst to get their Test careers propelling forward.”
With the Test matches now increased, Karthik said that Pujara and Rahane’s performances will come under the spotlight every time and their voices will get louder with every match they don’t score. He explained, “They would be disappointed, no doubt. There has been this word out that they need to score hundreds because they haven't in some time and with every match that pressure seems to increase.
Since Test matches were played sporadically, they have not been in the spotlight as often in the recent past. There has been a lot of white-ball cricket recently so it has kind of gone under the radar but once Test cricket starts in full tilt again, they will come under the spotlight every time they don't score runs. With every game, the voices from outside will seem to get louder.”
On the other hand, Shreyas Iyer made a stunning Test debut, scoring 105 runs in Kanpur, and Karthik opined that it could prove a threat to Pujara and Rahane's positions in the Indian team.
He signed off by saying, “Now, Shreyas Iyer walks in at No.5 and scores a fifty. If he goes on to make a hundred and then does well in the next game, what are they going to do when they go to South Africa (for their upcoming tour starting December). Are they going to hold on to him or one of these two? These are the big questions that Rahul Dravid has to answer.”
