Pressure mounts on Pujara & Rahane after both fail to impress in the Kanpur Test

Ajinkya Rahane might not be too worried about his and Cheteshwar Pujara's form with the bat but every passing knock puts another question mark about their spot in India's Test XI.

In a match without Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant, the onus was on India's captain and his deputy to lead from the front but Both failed to impress in both the innings of the Kanpur Test.

It has been 19 innings since Pujara last scored a Test hundred on home soil. Moreover, he last scored a Test ton 39 innings ago, which is now the joint-most consecutive innings without a 100 while batting at number 3 for India.

Let's compare how Pujara and Rahane's career is on a slide. They have scored tons of runs for India in their careers with both having healthy averages. However, in 8 Test innings each in 2020, Pujara and Rahane average 20.3 and 38.8 respectively. While it's a major drop for Pujara, Rahane has still done decently. But it's the following year where India's stand-in captain's average took a hard hit. Rahane averages a mere 19.5 in 21 innings in 2021, scoring just 411 runs. Pujara on the other hand averages just over 30 in 22 innings thanks to a couple of good scores in England but it's still nowhere close to his career average.

With Virat Kohli returning in the 2nd Test in Mumbai and Shreyas Iyer displaying top form with a ton on Test debut, Pujara and Rahane's place in the playing XI might no longer be permanent.

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