'They have one more innings to save their Test careers': Gavaskar gives his verdict on struggling Pujara, Rahane

India legend and former captain Sunil Gavaskar feels Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane have at max one more innings to save their places in India's Playing XI.

Time is running out for Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane, India's middle order batting pair which endured yet another failure on Day 1 of the second Test against South Africa on Johannesburg on Monday. Pujara was dismissed for 3 off 33 balls followed by Rahane's dismissal for a golden duck which now really puts a question mark over their places in India's Playing XI.

Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane don't have much time to keep their places in India's XI, feels Sunil Gavaskar.  (Getty Images)

India legend and former captain Sunil Gavaskar feels Pujara and Rahane, at max, have one more innings to save their spots. With Shreyas Iyer – who scored a century in his maiden Test – against New Zealand in November knocking heavily on the doors of the Test team, Gavaskar feels that Pujara and Rahane could be staring down the barrel and possibly at the end of their Test careers if they don't score in India's second innings in Johannesburg.

"After these two dismissals, one can say that they probably have just next innings, both Pujara and Rahane to save their Test careers. There have been questions asked about their place in the team, and now with these two dismissals, they have just one innings left – the next innings. Looks like the way India are going, there will be a next inning for them to score something and maybe keep their place in the team," Gavaskar said on air.

Since December of 2019, Pujara and Rahane have combined to score 2271 runs at an average of 25.23 with one century and 12 alarming ducks between them. If in the Centurion Test, it was Pujara who endured a golden duck, here in Johannesburg it was Rahane. This was Rahane's first golden duck of his Test career. In 2021, Rahane scored only 479 runs from 13 Tests, while Pujara has fared slightly better with 702 runs from 14 matches.