The heat is on: Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane living on borrowed time? | Cricket News – Times of India

Over eleven thousand Test runs and thirty Test centuries between the two of them. And yet it’s been a very long time since either Cheteshwar Pujara or Ajinkya Rahane inspired real confidence when they walked out to bat for India in a Test match.
The India first innings in the ongoing Johannesburg Test vs the Proteas was another reminder of just how much these two very experienced hands have been struggling. While Pujara played 33 balls, before falling for 3 to Duanne Olivier, Rahane stayed at the crease for just one delivery, before falling to the Kolpak-returnee.
There’s no doubt that the pitch at the Wanderers is not the easiest track to bat on. Spongy bounce that the Protea bowlers have used almost to perfection. You could see how Pujara was set up. But this was the exact setting that would have required the likes of Pujara and Rahane to step up to the plate and perform big time. No Virat Kohli, no easy runs to be had, only five specialist batsmen (not counting wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant here). The stage was set up perfectly for the two experienced players to show that they can still pack a punch or two. But their performances were not in sync with what the team, the fans and the management, which has been backing them heavily for a while now, really wanted. The tame way in which they both departed in fact was perhaps even harder to watch.

Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane. (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images)
You can tell that the two are under pressure. The way Rahane fell first ball in the first innings in Johannesburg, playing a kind of half shot, shows that he is thinking too hard.
Every sporting career comes to an end. No matter how big the name, the curtain does eventually come down.
Going by what we have seen in the one and a half Tests played so far in South Africa, is the writing on the wall then for two of India’s old warhorses?
It’s no secret that the two are in a rut and finding it increasingly difficult to come out of it. The big question is just how long a rope will the two stalwarts of Indian cricket be given?
Let’s consider some numbers. The similarities are telling.
Pujara first.
The 33 year old from Saurashtra has played 93 Tests in his career so far, scoring 6605 runs at a career average of 44.32.
A closer look at his numbers over the last four years (January 2018 onwards) shows a steady dip. From January 2018 to January 2020 he played 21 Tests, scoring 1344 runs at an average of 40.72. Compare that with his figures from January 2020 to January 2022, where he played just 2 Tests less, and it will show how the average has slipped to just over 25 in that time period
Now Rahane, who is incidentally the same age as Pujara – 33.
The right hander from Mumbai, who is batting at number 4 currently, with Virat Kohli out injured, has so far played 80 completed Tests in his career, scoring 4863 runs at an average of just over 39. That average stood at almost 43 in the time period between January 2018 and January 2020. However, it has fallen to just over 25 in the time period between January 2020 and January 2022, during which time Rahane has played 17 Tests and scored 751 runs.
What cannot be ignored are the years of service these two have given Indian Test cricket (Pujara has been playing Test cricket since 2010, Rahane since 2013). They have been part of and have contributed to some of the most memorable away Test wins for this Indian Test team. They have on many occasions been the anchors the team needed to steady the ship.
But lean phases also need to end and right now that doesn’t seem to be happening for Pujara and Rahane.
In the home two Test series vs New Zealand, which India won 1-0, Pujara scored 95 runs in 4 innings, at an average of 23.75. This after he scored two fifties and averaged over 32 in England in the 4 Tests that were played.
Rahane meanwhile managed 39 runs in 2 innings, at an average of 19.50 against New Zealand. Before that, in England, his average was 15.57, having scored 109 runs in 7 innings. Neither player scored a fifty against the Kiwis at home.

Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara. (TOI Photo)
The last time Pujara scored a Test century was the huge 193 vs Australia in Sydney in January 2019. Since then he has been without a century in 45 innings (6 Tests) and has averaged 26.86 since his last Test ton.
For Rahane, the last Test century scored was in December 2020 – 112 vs Australia in Melbourne. Since then he has gone 25 innings (14 Tests) without a century and has averaged 21.08.
It wasn’t surprising to hear Sunil Gavaskar say during commentary that Pujara and Rahane have just one more innings perhaps to save their Test careers after they walked back to the pavilion in quick succession in the first innings at the Wanderers on Monday.
Someone like Ashish Nehra has pointed out that Virat Kohli also has ‘similar numbers’. However what cannot be forgotten is that Virat plays all three formats. His Test average has suffered over the last couple of years, but he still averages over 50 across all three formats. The last time Pujara played an ODI was 2014, the last time Rahane played one was February 2018. Rahane in fact has not featured in a T20I for India since August 2016.
Tests are the only format they play now and what they need to excel and prove themselves in. To say that they are running out of time would perhaps be an understatement.