Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara
The Indian cricket team selectors have finally announced the team for the series to be played in all three formats on the South Africa tour. A two-match Test series will also be played at the end of this tour, which is also part of the ICC World Test Championship. In such a situation, Team India wants to take part in this Test series with full preparation. While Rohit Sharma will take over the responsibility of captaining the Test team, two key players Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara have not been included in the team for this series. While Pujara was not part of the team even in the Test series on the West Indies tour, Rahane, despite being the vice-captain of the team on that tour, failed to earn his place in the team for that tour.
We will miss the experience of Rahane and Pujara
If we talk about Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara, both players definitely have a lot of experience in Test cricket in South Africa. While Pujara has toured South Africa four times with Team India so far, Rahane has also been there three times. With the return of Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul to the Test team, the exclusion of these two players was considered certain and the selectors made this decision with the future in mind. While Pujara hasn’t been able to do anything special in the Test format for quite some time, Rahane had definitely showcased the strength of his bat in the final of the WTC 2023, but in the Test series against West Indies, his bat remained silent. If we look at Pujara’s Test record in Africa, he has scored 535 runs in 10 Test matches, including three half-centuries and one century. Rahane has scored 402 runs in 6 games and also scored three half-centuries.
All eyes will be on KL Rahul
The Indian team has not tasted victory in the Test series in South Africa even once, so this tour will prove to be very important for them. Both KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer are returning to the Test team after a long time and everyone will be looking at their performance. Rahul was part of the team in the home Test series against Australia before he was unfit, but he failed to make any significant contribution with the bat at all, following which Shubman Gill got the chance to open the innings with captain Rohit Sharma in his place. . The last time India played a Test series in Africa, KL Rahul took over the captaincy in the second match when Virat Kohli was unfit, although India suffered a seven-wicket defeat in that match.
Here is the Indian team for the Test series against South Africa
Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper), KL Rahul (wicketkeeper), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Mohammed Shami . , Jasprit Bumrah (vice captain), Prasidh Krishna.
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