With Kohli coming back, the million-dollar question is who among Pujara and Rahane will sit out

Express News Service

CHENNAI: During the first half of his captaincy stint, Virat Kohli was ruthless when it came to choosing the XI. Especially when it came down to picking between two batters, current form mattered more than past performances.

While it didn’t have any bearing in the home Tests, the story was different overseas. The merry-go-round meant the batting order was never a settled unit. With a lack of security creating pressure, it eventually proved to be their biggest undoing in the 2018 tours of South Africa and England.

As Kohli grew into his role as skipper, the chop and change policy was binned. Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane – two batters who had missed out on crucial Tests away from home – have since then received the backing they deserved. Talks of strike-rates and inconsistencies vanished as India enjoyed a glorious run in the inaugural World Test Championship cycle, which ended with a defeat in the final to New Zealand. Crucially, it is where Kohli first mentioned the need to enter the transition phase with an eye on the future.

As Kohli returns to international cricket after a short break, the two-match Test series against New Zealand is up for grabs and straight away he is in need to take a big call. Who will make way for Kohli at the Wankhede on Friday? It is the question that has generated more interest than the Test itself. Despite India playing most of their recent Tests on challenging conditions at home and overseas, the middle-order has been their biggest cause of concern. Pujara hasn’t scored a century in 35 months and Rahane is without one in 21 innings and Kohli – the only all-format player among the trio – is without an international century in two years. And you don’t need an expert to tell you whose spot is secure.

To be fair to Pujara and Rahane, they have scored important, vital runs whenever the team needed it the most. They have come in Australia, at home, and in England. But consistency continues to be missing. In a team where their philosophy revolves around batters taking more responsibility so that they can play five bowlers, Pujara and Rahane have got the long rope only because the results have been going India’s way. After it cost the WTC final, India even contemplated dropping one of them for the England series and play Hanuma Vihari instead. However, in English conditions, the then team management preferred to back the duo as they believed their experience would be needed.

The difficult decision to drop them or not is now down to the new team management. It isn’t an easy one to make with a tough tour of South Africa lined up. India has already earmarked Shubman Gill and Shreyas as their middle-order options for the future and prefers to give them enough opportunities at home before exposing them in away conditions. That would make for a seamless transition as it is only going to strengthen the team further. This is why the New Zealand series was not only important for Pujara and Rahane but India too. Had the two even showed some sign of form in Kanpur, India may have still persisted with the duo and would have made them certainties for South Africa too.

Instead, Shreyas is now forcing India to rush with the decision. India still prefers some experience in the middle-order alongside Kohli as having two inexperienced batters at No 3 & 5 in South African conditions would be too much to ask for. It would leave Gill, Shreyas, and Rishabh Pant forming the middle-order in their maiden tour to the Rainbow Nation with Kohli at No 4. Post South Africa, India’s remaining WTC assignments are against Sri Lanka and Australia at home followed by one in Bangladesh. These series would be the ideal time for transition, which means India is likely to give only one of Pujara and Rahane an opportunity going forward with one of them set to be benched for Mumbai.

And if it happens, it will be a justified call.