The woes of Pujara, Kohli and Rahane in focus ahead of Cape Town Test
The numbers and performances tell a story. In the last two years, Rahane hasn't trusted his defence enough, Pujara often hasn't lasted long enough and Kohli’s off-stump troubles have resurfaced.
Under intense glare for their prolonged struggle with form, Cheteshwar Pujara, skipper Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane will be the most keenly watched when India take on a confident South Africa in the series-deciding third Test at Cape Town starting on Tuesday.
With Kohli sitting out due to back spasm, Pujara and Rahane deflected some of the scrutiny at The Wanderers with aggressive half-centuries. While their 111-run third wicket partnership revived India’s second innings from 44/2, it still fell way short of expectations.
Rahane was out for a 78-ball 58 and Pujara for 53 off 86 balls. From the team perspective, at least one of them should have gone on to put up a big score and guide the lower order. Had they tackled an inspired spell from Kagiso Rabada—he dismissed both and an ultra-aggressive Rishabh Pant for zero in the space of 10 deliveries—the Test could have taken a different direction. In the end, South Africa chased on a target of 240 to level the series, leaving India under pressure heading to Cape Town.
Pujara and Rahane are now likely to keep their spots in the playing eleven, but India’s middle-order concerns remain as Kohli fights his own battles. The engine room of Indian batting has been sputtering for the last two years. Rahane has three fifties from 25 completed innings since his match-winning 112 at Melbourne in December, 2020. Pujara’s last century came in Sydney in January, 2019, and though he has scored 12 half-centuries in 46 innings, 91 is the best. Kohli’s 25 finished knocks since his 136 in the pink-ball Test at Kolkata against Bangladesh in November, 2019 has five half-centuries.
Now, conventional stats don’t fully explain their downward scoring trajectory. Pujara’s batting average is down from 49.48 at the end of 2019 to 44.11, Kohli’s from 54.97 to 50.34 and Rahane’s from 43.74 to 39.05.
RAHANE’S DEFENCE
While the average of all three is in the mid-20s since 2019 end, Rahane has played the most false strokes (16%), 4% higher than pre-2020. That number for Pujara and Kohli is up by 3%. Rahane has been more error prone because he has often tried to hit his way out of trouble. The Wanderers knock was one instance when it came off to an extent, though it was dictated by a challenging pitch. Otherwise, 12 of 35 single-digit dismissals tell their story though his attack has remained at 22%. Pujara’s aggression in Johannesburg was an exception. He has played 9% fewer attacking shots and Kohli 7% less in that phase.
The worry about Rahane is his playing 101 fewer defensive shots per dismissal in the past two years. It indicates a sharp change in strategy and lack of trust in his defensive game. Dismissed edging a cut to a rising Lungi Ngidi delivery and a half-hook to a wide Marco Jansen bouncer outside off-stump in the Centurion Test are the most recent examples. Interestingly, Rahane, and not Pujara, had more solid defensive numbers before 2020. The Mumbai batter does look more in charge when his defence is more organised.
PUJARA’S ATTACK HALVED
Pujara’s defensive shots per dismissal have also dropped (36.5 fewer than before), but his attacking shots have almost halved. Dismissed 19 times out of 35 before reaching 20 since the start of 2020, he’s not been around long enough to switch gears. As a batter with a defensive base, there is merit in his being busier at the start of his innings.
The trio has been largely unchanged for more than eight years, but they are under pressure to step it up as younger batters wait. Hanuma Vihari’s knock in Johannesburg showed he deserves a regular run. Shreyas Iyer is sitting out despite a century on debut. Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav and young Ruturaj Gaikwad too are in the reckoning.
KOHLI’S OFF-STUMP WOES
Kohli’s game has suffered too (85.4 fewer defensive strokes per dismissal), but his problem is clear—
outside off-stump. While all three have been dismissed behind the wickets more in the past two years with India playing many overseas Tests, 71% of Kohli’s dismissals have come in that fashion. The average line of dismissal for him per year has shifted from middle stump in 2019 to 9 cm outside off in 2020 and 26 cm outside off in 2021. More catches have gone to the wicket-keeper (47%) than slips (24%). It shows that despite bowlers drawing his hands away from the body, the nicks have been mostly slim.
Experts have suggested that Kohli should put away his signature cover drive. Another suggestion is that he should go back to a conventional set up by standing in the crease than outside it. Kohli began standing out to cut the swing in England in 2018, which made a big difference. Pujara and Rahane too did that but switched back to batting from the crease in South Africa (see gfx). Kohli continued to meet the ball early (avg interception point vs pace 2.32 m) in Centurion. “It will be worth for Virat to give a thought of also developing some sort of a response on the back foot. He now only seems to be preoccupied in scoring on the front foot,” former India batting coach Sanjay Bangar said on TV during this series.