Ajinkya Rahane And Cheteshwar Pujara Given Strong Message By Indian Management Post Adelaide Humiliation: Report

The first Test in Adelaide against Australia this year witnessed one of the groundbreaking collapses from the Indian team. The second innings saw India register their lowest total in Test cricket of 36 against Australia as Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins shared nine wickets between them to humiliate the tourists. With another stern test awaiting in Melbourne, the team management has issued a strong warning to Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane.

Cheteshwar Pujara, who was the man of the series in India’s last tour of Australia, performed admirably well in the first innings of the first Test. He faced 160 balls for his 43 runs and played a vital role in blunting the new-ball attack. However, the right-handed batsman could not open his account, giving away his wicket to Pat Cummins. The tourists could manage only a lead of 89 in the second innings, leaving Australia 90 to win, which they did by eight wickets.

On the other hand, Ajinkya Rahane also underwent the same story in Adelaide. He scored 42 runs in 72 deliveries in the first innings before perishing for a four-ball duck in the second. Moreover, Ajinkya Rahane has struggled for consistency in the last few years despite being one of the most experienced batsmen in the side. With Rahane set to the captain for the next three Tests, there remains little doubt that he has to punch way above his weight.

Indian captain backs his side to come back strongly in the next Test:

Virat Kohli, who will miss the last three Tests, revealed that leaving with a victory would have been wonderful; however, he understands that in Test cricket, anything could happen at any stage. At the same time, he earmarked his men to step up in Melbourne and will learn from their shambolic performance in Adelaide. The 32-year old also termed it as their worst batting performance.

“Leaving with a victory would have been great. Having said that this is Test cricket anything can happen at any stage. I’m pretty confident that the team is gonna bounce back strongly in Melbourne. Few of the guys are gonna realise their true characters and how they can step-up for the team. I’m very very confident that we’ll definitely learn from this. I don’t think we ever had a worse batting performance so it only goes upwards from here,” Kohli said as quoted by Times Now after the loss in the first Test.

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