IND vs NZ 1st Test: Pujara and Rahane’s poor form increased the team’s concern, know since when both have been silent

The first day in the first Test match being played at the Greenpark Stadium in Kanpur may have been in the name of the Indian batsmen but captain Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara disappointed once again despite getting a good start. Cheteshwar Pujara scored 26 runs off 88 balls and then became a victim of experienced New Zealand fast bowler Tim Southee. After this Ajinkya Rahane got bowled by fast bowler Kyle Jamieson. Rahane scored 35 runs off 63 balls. Thus Rahane and Pujara once again failed to play big innings.

In Kohli’s absence, Ajinkya Rahane may have been leading the team to victories as a captain but his recent performance as a batsman has been bleak. Talking about the year 2021, Rahane has scored 407 runs in 12 matches at an average of just 20, which does not include a single century. However, during this time, 2 half-centuries have come out of his bat. Nearly 11 months have passed since Rahane scored a century with the bat. He last scored a century on 26 December 2020 against Australia in Melbourne. Since this century, Rahane has played 12 Test matches but has not been able to reach his personal score to 3 points.

IND vs NZ, 1st Test: Shreyas Iyer did this big feat while scoring a half-century in the debut test

Test specialist Cheteshwar Pujara’s condition is worse than Rahane’s. Nearly 34 months have passed since Pujara scored a century in Tests. His last Test century with the bat came against Australia in Sydney on 3 January 2019. In the year 2021 too, Pujara’s poor form continues and he has been able to score only 617 runs in 12 Test matches at an average of around 30. Although 6 half-centuries have come out of his bat this year, but he could not convert anyone into a century.

Significantly, till the end of the first day’s play in the Kanpur Test, the Indian team scored 258 runs on the basis of Shreyas Iyer (75) and Ravindra Jadeja (50) for the loss of 4 wickets. For New Zealand, Kyle Jamieson managed to take 3 wickets on the first day.