Did Team India Make A Mistake By Not Taking Pujara And Rahane to South Africa?
IND vs SA Test Series: Did Team India make a mistake by not taking Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane to South Africa? Team India had to face defeat in the first match of the Test series being played against South Africa.
No Test Series Has Been Won in South Africa For 31 Years:-
In this way, the Indian team’s dream of creating history was shattered once again. Team India has not won any Test series in South Africa for the last 31 years. In such a situation, captain Rohit Sharma had a chance to create history.
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However, this will not happen now because the Indian team has lost the first match of the 2-match series by 32 runs and one innings. Many questions are being raised after losing this match.
While on one hand Rohit Sharma’s captaincy is being criticized, on the other hand, questions are being raised about not taking Test specialists like Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara.
By dropping Cheteshwar Pujara from the Test team, Team India fielded Shubman Gill at number 3. However, they proved to be a flop. Gill was out after scoring 2 runs in 12 balls in the first innings of this match and only 26 runs in 37 balls in the second innings.
After All, What Was The Reason For Ignoring Pujara?
It would not be wrong to say that Team India missed a batsman like Cheteshwar Pujara on the bouncy pitch of Centurion in South Africa. After the flop of Shubman Gill, questions are being raised as to what was the reason for ignoring Pujara.
Talking about Pujara’s record, he has scored 535 runs in 10 matches in South Africa. Pujara played his last Test match against Australia in the final of the World Test Championship on 7 June at The Oval.
In which he was out after scoring 14 runs in the first innings and 27 runs in the second. Since then Pujara has not played any Tests. Recently Pujara had scored an unbeaten half-century in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
He Has Not Played Any Test Or International For The Last Five Months:-
Talking about Ajinkya Rahane, he played his last Test match against West Indies in Port of Spain in July. He has not played any Test or International for the last five months.
Rahane could have proved effective on the bouncy pitches of South Africa, but it could not happen. In South Africa, he has played 12 innings of 6 matches from 2013-2022. In which he has scored 402 runs. It also includes 3 half-centuries.
Fans say that if experienced players like Pujara and Rahane could have been included instead of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill, then the condition of Team India would not have been so bad.
However, after the defeat in this match, the Indian team will prepare for the second Test starting on January 3. It will be interesting to see what wonders the Indian team does in this.