Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar has reacted to the continued failures of Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara after they fell for 0 and 3 respectively in the ongoing second Test against South Africa in Johannesburg, saying that the duo has only one more innings to save their Test careers.
Pujara and Rahane fell off consecutive deliveries from Proteas fast bowler Duanne Olivier. Olivier, making his comeback in international cricket after an absence of nearly three years, first got Pujara with some extra bounce. Pujara looked to defend but the ball hit the shoulder of the bat and looped right into the hands of Temba Bavuma at point.
Rahane was dismissed when a ball outside off took his outside edge before flying into the hands of Keegan Pietersen at gully diving to his right. Pujara had scored three runs off 33 balls while Rahane was out for a golden duck.
"After those two dismissals, one can say that they probably have just the next innings, both Pujara and Rahane, to save their Test career. There have been questions asked about their place in the team and now with these two dismissals, they have just one innings left. If there is another innings and the way India is going, it looks like there will be another for them to score something and maybe keep their place in the team,” said Gavaskar while doing commentary on Star Sports after the two senior batters were dismissed.
Meanwhile, India started off well with openers Mayank Agarwal and KL Rahul, who is captain of the team in the second Test in the absence of Virat Kohli, put up an opening stand of 36 runs. But Olivier’s two wickets and Marco Jansen dismissing Agarwal meant India went to lunch at 53/3.
