Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane: Seasoned trio needs to fire

Over the last 12 months, the vastly experienced of trio have struggled for consistency

India may have had one of their most successful years in Test cricket in 2021 but one can’t mask their batting frailties. While their once-in-a-generation pace attack has gone about slaying one opposition after another with irresistible consistency, the same cannot be said about their seasoned middle-order.

Over the last 12 months, the vastly experienced of trio of Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane have struggled for consistency, the team often bailed out by one of the openers scoring big or the lower-order rising to the occasion. Pujara, Kohli and Rahane — the bedrock of the Indian team — have failed to score a single century last year, a shocking statistic which has been looked over thanks to the team’s incredible overall performances.

Kohli, whose last Test century came against Bangladesh in November 2019, averages the best amongst the trio at 28.21 in 11 matches, while Pujara is a shade lower at 28.08 in 14 games. Rahane, whose place in the playing XI has been questioned repeatedly and was axed as the vice-captain, is worst of the lot, a dismal average of 20.82 in 13 appearances.

While Rahane has indeed looked out of sorts on most occasions and found new methods to get out, Pujara and Kohli have actually got off to promising starts and have only themselves to blame for not converting them into substantial knocks.

Kohli, like in the last Test at Centurion where he got out for a good-looking 35 in the first innings, has fallen victim to his weakness around the off-stump. For most moments he’s curbed his natural instinct of playing those expansive drives but, against the run of play, the devil inside him manifests and ends up costing his wicket. If he can find a way to quell the devil, then a century is a possibility because he’s looked assured at the crease until making the fatal mistake.

Pujara hasn’t looked as fluent as Kohli but the Saurashtrian has brought his typical grit and gumption. He blocks one end up astutely, defending like a rock as other around him build their innings. While he has gotten out for single digit scores on nine occasions, once he gets his eye in, he’s been hard to dislodge. Generally, it’s a brilliant ball that has taken him out and frustration on his face those time were clearly visible.

Coach Rahul Dravid felt there are phases in a batsmen’s career where they are unable to convert starts and it’s sad all of them are going through it at the same time. “There are phases in your career where you feel your are batting well but the big scores don’t necessarily come. It happens to everyone. It just could be happening for us that the 2-3 of them are going through a similar phase at the same time,” he said during the pre-match press conference on Sunday.

“I think the heartening and good point is really that they seem to be batting really well, they are getting off to starts. And they know how to convert, it’s not like these guys don’t know how to convert them to 100s. They have been preparing well, practising well and are in really good space. I’m really hoping we will see some really good performances over the next couple of games. Like I said these are challenging conditions, it’s not easy to convert them.”

While Dravid words are indeed encouraging, Pujara and Rahane know with several talented young batsmen waiting in the wings, they need that big century at the earliest else their place in the XI will be up for discussion again.

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