Former Indian pacer Ashish Nehra backed the struggling duo of Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane to come good in the ongoing Test series against South Africa, saying that even Virat Kohli has similar numbers in recent times.
Both Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane have failed to perform for Team India as per the expectations. Their place in the side is under scanner due to continuous failures. While Pujara has failed to score a century for almost three years, Rahane averaged over 19 in Tests in 2021.
Both the batters struggled to get going in the first innings of the ongoing second Test against South Africa in Johannesburg, which only worsened their case more.
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After Cheteshwar Pujara was sent back to the hut for 3 runs, Ajinkya Rahane bagged a golden duck to leave India in all sorts of trouble as they on account of 50 by stand-in skipper KL Rahul and 46 by R Ashwin posted a first-innings total of just 202 runs on the board.
Following Pujara and Rahane’s failure in the first innings of ongoing Johannesburg Test, calls regarding their omission from the team has risen drastically.
However, Ashish Nehra backed both Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane, saying that even Virat Kohli has similar numbers in recent times but people are not questioning his place in the side.
He added that even though the Indian Test skipper has done things on a completely different level but both Pujara and Rahane are also second to none.
"Even Virat Kohli has similar numbers but people are not questioning his place in the team. Obviously, he is the captain and what Kohli has done is on a completely different level from the two batters we are talking about. It is not fair to compare, but Rahane and Pujara have also been second to none at their peak, especially the latter,” Ashish Nehra told Cricbuzz.
Nehra said that if team management has backed Ajinkya Rahane for the first Test then they should play him for the rest of the series against South Africa.
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"If you have backed a player like Rahane for the 1st Test, it would be better to carry on with him for the rest of the series. Obviously, Rahane was the one who was out (officially due to injury) when Kohli came back for the second Test against New Zealand, though he led the team in the first,” he said.
Ashish Nehra further admitted that both Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara have been in trouble of late but changing players in the middle of the series will be a big decision.
"Agreed, both Pujara and Rahane have been in big trouble of late. But changing players in the middle of an important series is a big decision," he said.
It remains to be seen if team management will persist with Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane in the next Test in Cape Town or not.
(Cricbuzz inputs)
