India vs New Zealand, 1st Test: Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara testing strength of ‘long rope’ | Cricket News – Times of India

Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane have now played 91 and 79 Tests respectively. They have 6542 and 4795 runs against their names. But their careers have come to a point where these numbers don’t seem enough to cover their unending, painful run of poor form anymore.
If ever there was a Test match to prove their stature and influence as established Test batters, it was the first Test against New Zealand in Kanpur with Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant missing in action. Rahane’s counter-attacking century in Melbourne and Pujara’s act of defiance in Brisbane seem to have happened a lifetime ago.

Pujara eked out a couple of substantial knocks in England three months ago but Rahane has looked far from a big knock for a while. It’s an awkward situation for the caretakers of Indian cricket. For far too many matches now, the lower order has had to do the heavy-lifting.
The averages of the two batters are plummeting like the air pressure of a leaking tyre. Rahane has gone into sub-40s and Pujara has fallen under 45 thanks to three years of scoring at an average of under 30. The arrival of Shreyas Iyer in this Test, the promise of Shubman Gill, the resolve of Hanuma Vihari and the temperament of Washington Sundar – have coincided with their rough patch. That they are well into their 30s, would also be testing the will of team management and selectors.

The first big call may have to be taken in another three days when regular captain Virat Kohli assumes charge in the Mumbai Test after sitting out of the first one. And one has to go back to the history books to find the last time a stand-in captain was in line to be dropped for the next Test.
“We understand that both of them are going through a lean phase,” India’s batting coach Vikram Rathour conceded on Sunday before getting back to script a defence for the duo.
“But we understand that they have both played very, very important knocks for us in the past. We are pretty sure that they are going to come back and play important knocks for us,” he added.
“Of course, you want the top-order to contribute but the cricketers (Pujara and Rahane) you mentioned have played 80 and 90 Tests. To play that many games, they must have done well for us,” was Rathour’s retort.
The ‘long rope’ is a premium idea in Indian cricket. It is not handed to people easily.
But it’s clear that the rope is struggling to bear the burden of two out-of-form heavyweights of Indian cricket.
Every youngster who has broken into the side has had to be on his toes for years to get the long rope. Rishabh Pant had a sword hanging over his head for the first four years of his international career. Karun Nair got just two Tests after becoming India’s second triple-centurion. Kuldeep Yadav fell off the radar after taking a fiver in Sydney in 2019.
Pujara and Rahane had to sit out of the XI several times till three years ago despite meaningful contributions. They have slogged and played out difficult phases in Indian cricket to make the leadership group of the team.
“I don’t think you can put a number to that (number of matches as rope). It really depends on the situation the team is in and what the team is required to do,” Rathour said of the two senior batters.
Indian cricket will get a clearer picture about the vision for the middle order once the team reaches Mumbai this week.