SA vs IND: Rahul Dravid pats Cheteshwar Pujara's back after he bags golden duck in Centurion Test

Cheteshwar Pujara’s poor run in Test matches continued as he bagged a golden duck in the first Test against South Africa. The right-handed batter was under the scanner as he has been far away from his prime in the last couple of years. In fact, his last Test ton was recorded way back in January 2019. With youngsters like Shreyas Iyer and Suryakumar Yadav emerging through ranks, many even wanted Pujara out of the line-up for the Boxing Day Test.

However, the team management persisted with him and continued with him in the line-up.  However, Pujara couldn’t make a significant mark and bagged a duck on the first ball. Lungi Ngidi was the bowler doing the damage. It was an inswinging delivery that Pujara failed to tackle with the bat. The ball took the inside edge and lobbed to Keegan Petersen, who was placed at short leg.

Cheteshwar Pujara’s dismissal bagged criticism

With Pujara enduring yet another failure, Twitterati came out hard at him and trolled the veteran batter mercilessly. However, Team India head coach Rahul Dravid seems to have a different perspective of viewing Pujara’s failure. A video has gone viral in which Dravid can be seen patting Pujara in the back.

#SAvIND pic.twitter.com/SpMO6RtccL

— Ashwin Natarajan (@ash_natarajan) December 26, 2021

The footage is after Pujara got out and even changed his gear. He was standing alongside Jasprit Bumrah and Priyank Panchal when Dravid came in. When the two crossed paths, Dravid patted him on the back while the 33-year-old smiled. Netizens are impressed with Dravid’s gesture and they heaped praises on him.

Speaking of how the game panned out, the toss landed in India’s favour as Virat Kohli opted to bat. With the track having assistance for pacers, many believed Kohli’s call wasn’t right. However, Indian openers KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal embraced the challenge added 117 runs for the first wicket.

Pujara arrived in the middle after Agarwal was dismissed but he couldn’t make a mark. However, KL Rahul joined forces with skipper Virat Kohli and the duo steadied the ship with a century partnership. India would be pretty happy with the start but they can’t afford to be complacent with the track being challenging.