Venkatapathy Raju Believes Virat Kohli Has Made the Situation Clear to Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara
Former Indian spinner Venkatapathy Raju has revealed that the Indian skipper Virat Kohli has already explained the sensitivity of the situation to Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane. The duo has been out of form for a while now, lacking any sort of consistency which has hurt the middle-order.
In a conversation with Hindustan Times, Raju stated that the ‘intent’ needs to be there but not overkilled. He was also surprised with Pujara’s strike rate after having been given clear instructions on how to go about at No.3. The same applied for Rahane, who has been throwing his wicket away at crucial times like in the World Test Championship (WTC) final.
“Pujara and Rahane know what is expected from them in this Indian team. They know what Virat Kohli wants from them. He has been vocal in letting them know what the situation is. I’m a bit surprised to still see Pujara taking so many balls. We’ve seen him score quickly when he gets those big hundreds and double hundreds in domestic cricket but in Test cricket.”
“If you want to win Test matches and gain points in WTC then that intent of yours matters. By intent, it does not mean you start playing shots but just try to keep the scoreboard moving, score a bit quickly. You can see in on Rahane and Pujara’s faces, I think they’ve already been told what they’re supposed to do,” the spinner said.
“If they change their intent and mindset, they can be the main guys” – Venkatapathy Raju on Rahane, Pujara
The duo of Rahane and Pujara are well-known match-winners in Tests. They have the capacity to hold the fort at one end while the team plays around them. However, during certain times, they need to step up and take the attack to the opposition themselves. That’s something that needs to be worked on as per Raju.
“All the players are under pressure when they don’t do well. Consistency is the key. These (Pujara and Rahane) guys are experienced and slowly we would require at least one of these two guys to score more consistently. We saw in the second innings Pujara coming out and playing a bit more aggressively.”
“They have done so well in the past. I think if they can just change their intent and mindset, they can again be the main guys to help India win. We saw that in Australia. Rahane scored a brilliant hundred in Melbourne. Pujara did not get to three figures, but he was there like a wall. Be a little more consistent Rahane and to Pujara, his intent has to change a bit,” Raju concluded.
If the two fail to perform in the next two Tests against England, they might be axed from the playing XI in favor of Hanuma Vihari and possibly Mayank Agarwal.
