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Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt reckons the struggling Indian trio of Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara and Rishabh Pant do not have a Plan B in their batting.
While Pujara and Rahane perished in familiar fashion on Day 1 at The Oval, nicking deliveries behind the stumps, Pant toe-ended Chris Woakes, trying to take on the pacer.
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Speaking on his YouTube channel, Butt opined that Rahane, Pujara and Pant are failing to learn from their mistakes, while Virat Kohli’s struggles aren’t helping matters. He stated:
“Virat Kohli is backing the team but the team is not responding to it in the manner that they should. Kohli and the team are definitely in a spot of bother. He himself is not scoring runs and the middle-order is struggling as well. India need to definitely ponder upon this.
Butt added:
“The mode of dismissals of (Ajinkya) Rahane, (Cheteshwar) Pujara, and (Rishabh) Pant are pretty similar. They just don’t seem to have a Plan B in their batting. When you play such a long series and are not able to score in a particular way, you have to adapt and look for other options. They either need to go on the backfoot or move forward and play on the front foot. But all three are playing in between - neither are they going fully forward and moving backwards. When you are unsure of your footwork and the ball is doing so much, you are bound to get into trouble.”
"Rahane hasn’t scored much in the last games but same is the case with Kohli and Pujara" - Virender Sehwag
Having lost three wickets early on, India tried to change things and sent in Ravindra Jadeja ahead of Rahane and Pant. The move did not work though and the all-rounder was back in the hut for 10.
Analyzing the move, Virender Sehwag said that it could be a one-off thing to try the left-right combination.
He was quoted as saying in a Hindustan Times report:
“Maybe it was step taken to force the England bowlers to alter their line and length against a left-hander. And if the reason is something else then it’s not a good sign for India. It could be just one of the matches when Jadeja was promoted up and sent in to bat ahead of Ajinkya Rahane.
Sehwag added:
“The conditions are favouring swing and troubling the right-handers, so send in Jadeja at No. 5; which we usually see in the shorter formats. The right-hand and left-hand combination often troubles a bowler, so may be to introduce that format in Tests as well. Rahane hasn’t scored much in the last games but same is the case with Kohli and Pujara. Why wasn’t their position altered? So, I think it could be a one-time affair.”
India were bowled for 191 on Day 1 of The Oval Test. England were 53 for 3 in response, with Joe Root being dismissed for 21.
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