India wicket-keeper batsman Dinesh Karthik says Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane will be very disappointed with their performances on day one of the Kanpur Test against New Zealand. Both the senior players were dismissed for their poor shot selection on the first day against New Zealand.
Karthik says that the way these two players are consistently performing poorly, it will not help them. He believes that the pressure on him from outside will increase. Both these players made their place in this series by playing some positive cricket in the last leg of the England tour.
The consistent poor performance of these two has raised the concerns of the team management. At the same time, the pressure on both of them has also increased. There is a lot of pressure on Rahane and Pujara due to players like Shreyas Iyer and Suryakumar Yadav.
In a conversation with Cricbuzz, Karthik said, “There is no doubt that both of them will be very disappointed with their performance. Of course, the voices against him from outside the team will be louder. And he needs to score a century to silence those voices. He hasn’t scored a century for a long time. So the pressure is increasing after every match.
He further said, ‘Of course, Test match cricket happens occasionally, so they don’t get that much attention. People’s attention is more on limited overs cricket. Now the T20 World Cup happened and then the T20 International series against New Zealand took place. But once Test cricket starts in full swing, and every time they don’t score runs they will come into limelight for negative reasons. And after every match such voices will get deeper.
While the picture doesn’t look golden for Karthik and Pujara, Karthik believes that Rahul Dravid is the right person who can bring both of them on the right track. Karthik says that Dravid has been a great batsman of Test cricket and he can make the right changes in the technique and attitude of both of them.
Karthik said, ‘To be honest, Rahul Dravid has an idea of the worth of Pujara and Rahane. I think somewhere the quality of Rahul Dravid will come out through these two batsmen because their style of play is almost the same.
Karthik said, ‘So many people feel that only Rahul Dravid can get these two players to perform at their best. It could be a lifeblood for his career. Rahul Dravid can be an important tool to take his career forward.
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