IND vs NZ| Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara are not small children for someone to come and pat their back, says Salman Butt
Salman Butt has opined that Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara are not small children for someone to come and pat their back and that they should deal with their form on their own. Rahane managed scores 35 and 4 while Pujara scored 26 and 4 runs in the first Test at Kanpur against New Zealand.
New Zealand played out a draw against India in the first Test of a two match series at Kanpur on Monday. Rachin Ravindra and Ajaz Patel showed their resistance to save the Test match for the Blackcaps. Ajinkya Rahane was leading the team in absence of Virat Kohli and he maintained his record of staying unbeaten in Test matches as a captain. However, the form of Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane has been an issue of concern for the team for a while now.
Rahane has suffered a significant dip in his form and as a result his career average has dropped down below 40 which is a rare instance. Pujara has been scoring fifties once a while but he has not played a big knock for a few matches now. He has an average of 28.61 in 23 Tests since the 2018-19 tour of Australia. Commenting on the form of two senior batsmen, former Pakistan cricketer Salman Butt has opined that both of them should be able to deal with their form on their own with the amount of experience they have playing international cricket
âRahane and Pujara need to apply what they have. What are they waiting for? With this amount of experience, one needs to deal with their problems on their own. They are not small children for someone to come and pat on their back. That time has passed for them. Now is the time to take the bull by the horns," Butt said on his Youtube channel.
Butt further added that Rahane shouldnât forget that he is the captain and should lead from the front and keep fighting.
âYou have seen enough ups and downs. Remember how you returned to form earlier. Donât forget you are the captain (for Kanpur Test). A leader needs to charge others. If he himself is constantly searching for form, then things wonât work. Even if he is losing his battle within, he needs to come up and try something and go down fighting.â he stated
India will play their second Test against New Zealand in Mumbai and Virat Kohli will return to the side to lead them.