'Certainly, he'd like to score more' - Rahul Dravid backs out of form Cheteshwar Pujara going ahead

The never-ending conundrum of the inconsistent Indian middle order in Tests has continued and has left a lot of fans worried. India’s performance in Tests has been quite phenomenal in the last two years and it is very surprising to see the batting order not clicking. A lot of talks have been going on to look into new faces for the coming years while dropping seniors like Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane.

India managed to completely outplay the South African side on their soil in the first Test and it is not often that the openers have done the bulk of the scoring. KL Rahul’s magnificent run of form across formats continued with a century and paved the way for a good total in the first innings. The Indian bowlers were clinical leaving just one more box to be ticked in terms of India’s middle order.

Rahul Dravid, the new Indian head Coach had his say on the poor form of India’s middle order in the pre-match conference ahead of the second Test.

The position Cheteshwar Pujara bats is a bit tough: Rahul Dravid

Rahul Dravid who himself batted at three throughout his great Test career for India revealed the toughness associated with batting at 3. He noted that India tends to win matches when Pujara comes good and wasn’t much concerned about the form. Pujara returned with scores of 0 and 16 in the first Test and his poor record in South Africa seems to be continuing.

“He is doing the best he can. Certainly, he’d like to score more. It’s not about being worried, it is about the position he bats which is a bit tough. When Pujara scores big, India wins,” Rahul Dravid said during the pre-match conference ahead of the second Test

On the contrary, it was Ajinkya Rahane’s place that was in question ahead of the first Test but he did manage to score 48 and 20. Pujara averaged 28.08 in the year 2021 with 702 runs and finished as the 5th highest run-getter overall. He has scored six fifties but his century drought is set to extend from 2019. Virat Kohli is nowhere in his best form yet and he perished after making good starts again in the first Test.