India vs New Zealand: Rahul Dravid might be catalyst for Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara – Dinesh Karthik

Pressure on Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara is barely going to extend each time they do not make an enormous rating within the coming months with India set to play extra red-ball cricket, veteran wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik has mentioned. Rahane and Pujara didn’t go previous 50 on Day 1 of India’s first Test in opposition to New Zealand.

While Rahane has not scored a century since December 2020, Pujara hasn’t scored a ton since he made 193 in opposition to Australia in January 2019. “They would be disappointed, no doubt. There has been this word out that they need to score hundreds because they haven’t in some time and with every match that pressure seems to increase,” Karthik mentioned on Cricbuzz.”Since Test matches were played sporadically, they have not been in the spotlight as often in the recent past. There has been a lot of white ball cricket recently so it has kind of gone under the radar but once Test cricket starts in full tilt again, they will come under the spotlight every time they don’t score runs. With every game the voices from outside will seem to get louder,” mentioned Karthik.Rahane, who’s India’s captain for the primary Test, fell after scoring 35 off 63 balls whereas Pujara, the vice-captain of the crew in Kanpur, scored 26 in 88 balls. Rahane got here in at No.4, which is normally the spot that Virat Kohli bats in however the latter has been rested for the primary Test. Debutant Shreyas Iyer, who got here in his place at No.5, ended up batting via the remainder of the day and scoring 75 off 136 balls. India have been in a shaky spot after the dismissals of Pujara and Rahane however Iyer’s 113-run stand with Jadeja, who was not out on 50 off 100 balls on the finish of the day, put India in a commanding place.Karthik mentioned that Iyer’s efficiency may put Pujara and Rahane’s place within the crew beneath query however head coach Rahul Dravid might assist the pair.”Now, Shreyas Iyer walks in at No.5 and scores a fifty. If he goes on to make a hundred and then does well in the next game, what are they going to do when they go to South Africa (for their upcoming tour starting December). Are they going to hold on to him or one of these two? These are the big questions that Rahul Dravid has to answer.”Having mentioned that, Rahul Dravid is aware of the worth of somebody like Pujara or Rahane. I feel someplace, the standard of Rahul Dravid will come out via these two batters as a result of they’ve very related strategies and kinds of play. So perhaps, he feels that he can get one of the best out of them and he may act because the catalyst to get their Test careers propelling ahead,” mentioned Karthik.