Will Rahane or Pujara face the axe when Kohli returns?

INDIA batting coach Vikram Rathour “understands” fully that India batters Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara are living on borrowed time, thanks to their poor run with the bat but the former India opener on Sunday (29) couldn’t give a definitive answer as to who would sit out to make way for regular captain Virat Kohli who is set to make a comeback into the national team in the second Test match starting in Mumbai on December 3.

With debutant Shreyas Iyer hitting a century and half-century in Kanpur, Kohli’s return would mean somebody would have to vacate his place in the middle order and with both Rahane and Pujara repeatedly failing to score runs, the axe is expected to fall on any one of them.

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“Of course, you want the top-order to contribute but cricketers (Pujara and Rahane) you mentioned they have played 80 (79 for Rahane) and 90 Tests (91 Test for Pujara). Of course, to play that many games, they must have done well for us,” Rathour said, trying his best to defend the 2021 Test average of below 20 by the stand-in captain (19.57) and 30.42 by his deputy, also temporary.

Shreyas Iyer hits ton in debut Test

“We understand that both of them are going through a lean phase but we understand that they have both played very, very important knocks for us in the past. We are pretty sure that they are going to come back and play important knocks for us,” the batting coach said.

But what’s the kind of long rope that one gives a senior player, who has been a past performer? Is it 15 or 20 Tests? The former Punjab opener, who played six Tests during the 1996-97 season, felt that it can't be quantified.

“I don’t think you can put a number to that. It really depends on situation the team is in and what the team is required to do,” he said.

The next question was even more straightforward: whom do you drop when Kohli takes his slot back in the Mumbai game?

“Captain coming back in, that will happen in next game and we will get to that point when we reach Mumbai. The focus is on this game and there is a day to go and a game to be won. We will get to that point when we get in Mumbai,” Rathour said.

Can he, at the least, say with a degree of certainty that Iyer, after his dream debut, won’t be dropped in the next game? There had been an instance when Karun Nair was left to cool his heels just after scoring a triple ton as an injured Rahane was making a comeback. “Once we land in Mumbai, we will take that call, what our playing XI is going to be,” Rathour said.

It is going to be a tightrope walk for the Indian team management when Kohli returns to the playing XI in Mumbai.

Opener Mayank Agarwal also did not get runs in Kanpur but if he is dropped, then Pujara has to open the innings which looks unlikely going by his confidence level at the moment.

Another option in Mumbai could be to ask Wriddhiman Saha to open the innings alongside Gill and Iyer coming in at No. 6 instead of the No 5 that he batted in the first Test. This is provided Saha is completely fit from his stiff neck issue, which troubled him in Kanpur. In case Saha doesn’t get fit, Srikar Bharat, who has been a red-ball opener with a triple hundred in first-class cricket, could be tried.

The third option is playing with four bowlers and expecting Iyer to at least give 10 overs of leg-spin along with three other spinners while dropping one of the pacers.

But can the team management drop either of Rahane or Pujara in the game against Mumbai?