Indian great Sunil Gavaskar has opined that Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara came good on the trust which was shown on them by the team management despite their poor run of form. Both Rahane and Pujara have been under the scrutiny as they haven’t been able to deliver the goods consistently in the last two years.
Pujara was dismissed for only three runs in the first innings of the second Test at the Wanderers, Johannesburg while Rahane bagged a golden duck. Thus, both of them were playing for their respective places in the second innings.
India lost two early wickets of in-form KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal in the second innings and henc the onus was on Pujara and Rahane. Pujara scored 53 while Rahane added 58 runs as the duo put on an impressive alliance of 111 runs for the third wicket to get their team back in the contest. Thus, both of them are expected to hold their place in the third Test match.
“The team has backed them because of the experience and what they have done in the past. They had the belief that they will come good and they did,” said Gavaskar on Star Sports.
“Sometimes we can be a little bit hard on some of our senior players because you have these exciting young players waiting in the wings and we all want to see them get a bit of exposure. But as long as these senior players are playing well and not getting out badly, then I think we should show faith in them,” he said.
On the other hand, Little Master added that KL Rahul could have been more guile with his field placements in the second innings as Dean Elgar was able to pick easy singles in the early phase of his knock. Elgar showed all the gumption and scored a match-winning knock of 96 runs to help his team chase down 240 runs.
“It is amazing, this is the first time that India have lost a Test match in which Virat Kohli has not played. They drew once in Sydney but otherwise they have always won. I thought giving Dean Elgar those singles at the start of the innings was making life a little bit easier for him.
“Elgar is not a hooker of the ball so to have two men in the deep did not make any sense. He was taking the singles quite comfortably. The Indian fielding could have been just that little bit sharper. But otherwise, it was the South Africans who won the game. I don’t think the Indians lost it, the South Africans who won this game,” said Gavaskar.
The third Test match between India and South Africa will be played at Cape Town from January 11.
