Pujara & Rahane likely to be included for SA tour

[The Realist]

India are set to leave for a full tour of South Africa later this month, and the think tank is expected to include the two underperforming veterans for the tough assignment. The selectors, captain and head coach will be reluctant to test newcomers like Shreyas Iyer and Suryakumar Yadav in those alien conditions.

 

Ideally, one would want to blood new talent at home and give them as much of a run as one can in familiar conditions before pushing them into sterner tests abroad. Which means one wouldn’t push an Iyer to face Kagiso Rabada and Co. at Wanderers and Newlands so soon, while one still has a few battle-hardened veterans who have had multiple jousts at those fiery venues.

 

It is understood that the Board is also veering towards the same view, and it also ties in with the support the two have been getting from the team management in public recently.

 

A day before the Mumbai Test, Kohli, without naming any individual, said that the management would continue to back those it has been backing for years now, even if it had to make temporary tweaks for particular combinations.

 

“We have backed the set of players that have done the job for the Indian team the last five-six years,” Kohli said. “We continue to maintain they are the integral part of the larger scheme of things, of the core group of the Indian Test team. They have always been players we have relied upon on many occasions. And they have done the job.

 

https://indianexpress.com/article/sports/cricket/pujara-rahane-likely-to-be-included-for-south-africa-tour-despite-run-slump-7653589/

 

 

[LordPrabhzy]

Did anyone expect otherwise?

[New guy]

Likely to? They were probably the first names after Kohli

[SRT100]

Im going to ask Kohli to consider me if they take walking wickets in Rahane and Pujara to South Africa.

[raki05]

Hagane and Gujara are investement which kohli has done in his hay days for bad days. It's time for them to payoff now in kohli bad days ,they will continue their tatti performance to divert all criticism towards them so that wrogn can be kept out of attention.

[express bowling]

Memory is so short.

 

Only a few months have gone by since absolute rookies like Siraj, Washington, Gill and Shardul, and relatively new players like Pant, were instrumental in India winning at Fortress Gabba against Cummins, Starc, Hazlewood and Lyon.

 

But full focus has to be on experience in South Africa. !!  Although most of the experienced ones are struggling badly.

 

This is called living in denial.

 

 

[figo6762]

So what’s the deal here ? .. 

selectors change , coaches change , captains also change .. but bcci selection policy has always been the same from the 80’s? 
 

so when do new players get come in when these assoles decide to retire ? 

[R!TTER]

13 minutes ago, figo6762 said:

so when do new players get come in when these assoles decide to retire ? 

When you can't even remove the worst of them, Brat in case you were wondering, from captaincy how do you suppose you'd ask the other two to drop themselves 

[wanted_desi]

Hope we lose then if thats the attitude, i can't support this team if such corruption is going on. 

 

[ThirtyD.]

By carrying walking wickets in #3, 4 and 5; you are just never too sure who to critic more. This certainly helps "King" Kohli's ego 

[ThirtyD.]

25 minutes ago, wanted_desi said:

Hope we lose then if thats the attitude, i can't support this team if such corruption is going on. 

 

 

What makes you think that losing the series would have any impact on our future selections? What changed after losing the "biggest" prize in test cricket (WTC)?

[tweaker]

2 hours ago, express bowling said:

Memory is so short.

 

Only a few months have gone by since absolute rookies like Siraj, Washington, Gill and Shardul, and relatively new players like Pant, were instrumental in India winning at Fortress Gabba against Cummins, Starc, Hazlewood and Lyon.

 

But full focus has to be on experience in South Africa. !!  Although most of the experienced ones are struggling badly.

 

This is called living in denial.

 

 

In the last 2,3 test young players ie Agarwal,Shreyas Iyer,Axar Patel ,Siraj  have played well but they would be the on the chopping board once the senior players returns.

 

The board doesnt have courage to utter the word "drop" but they are given respect and injury is cited reason for them not making the playing 11

[cricketfan28]

what about omicron?

[nevada]

4 hours ago, raki05 said:

Hagane and Gujara are investement which kohli has done in his hay days for bad days. It's time for them to payoff now in kohli bad days ,they will continue their tatti performance to divert all criticism towards them so that wrogn can be kept out of attention.

This same Kohli, when he was in good batting form, was dropping Pujara left and right. Now that he himself is woefully out of form since 2 years, he is the biggest supporter of Pujara and Rahane. 

[ShoonyaSifar]

Have said this earlier - underperforming Kohli will keep using below par Rahane and Pujara as the cushion to shield his own place in the team. Removing even one will make Kohli's position untenable.

 

In the best interest of our cricket, it's time to cut our losses and drop all three from SA tour.

[Texan]

Puajara and Kohli contributed a grand total of 0 runs in the first innings here. Rahane is of course not playing. So how bad would it really be if we had Iyer, Sky or anyone else? Are they going to make negative scores?

[Sgattick10]

Kohli is trying to save his own arse 

[SRT100]

13 minutes ago, Sgattick10 said:

Kohli is trying to save his own arse 

You cant drop Kohli if Pujara and Rahane are still in the team.

 

It makes total sense why he wants these guys in the team.

 

Kohli knows he has limited time left in the game.

[Premier]

Time to be ruthless and forward thinking here. If newcomers will struggle due to condition, take that into consideration when they struggle rather than extending the rope to tried and tested who might not even improve.

 

Drop Pujara & Rahane for Rohit and Rahul. Keep one of Gill/Mayank as opener with Rohit, put Rahul at 1 drop, Kohli at his regular spot, Shreyas where he is now, Saha goes out for Pant, Vihari comes in for Axar/Jayant spot, keep one of Jadeja/Ashwin and then 3 pacers (Bumrah, Siraj and Shami seems to ahead here).

[WC2011INDIA]

The tour will be canceled, so this is basically the last we will see of Pujara and Rahane. Time to move on.