'Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara Are India's Best Middle-order Players', Says KL Rahul

Johannesburg, January 6: Stand-in skipper KL Rahul stated Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane are Team India's greatest middle-order batters and their knocks within the second innings of the second Test will give them the arrogance to do higher within the subsequent match. Pujara together with Ajinkya Rahane stitched a 111-run stand for the third wicket and helped India prolong their lead on Wednesday. Both batters have been going by a lean patch however ended up hitting essential fifties on Day Three of the second Test towards South Africa. Also Read | IND vs SA 2nd Test 2021-22 Day 4 Stat Highlights: Captain Dean Elgar Stars in South Africa’s Historic Chase. "They have been great players for us (on Pujara and Rahane), have always done the job for us over the years, have been under the pump recently, but we believe Pujara and Rahane are our best middle-order players, to go out there, bat in that mindset and play such an innings. It'll give them confidence and make them do even better in the next Test," stated KL Rahul after India suffered a defeat within the second Test. Also Read | IPL 2023: My11Circle Becomes Official Title Sponsor for Lucknow Team. Dean Elgar performed a captain's knock scoring an unbeaten 96 to take the hosts to a 7-wicket win levelling the 3-match series 1-1 towards India. KL Rahul stated the guests have been 50-60 runs brief within the first innings. "Every Test match we play, we want to win, we go out there and compete hard, but South Africa played really well and deserved this victory. We were looking to get on the field today, try and do something special, 122 to get, the pitch was playing up and down, we had a good chance, but their batters played really well," stated Rahul. "If I want to be harsh, the first innings total of 202 was at least 50-60 runs short, we should have scored more and put them under pressure. Shardul (Thakur) has been superb for us, has won us a lot of games, he bowled well in the first innings and gave us a chance today as well," he added. Indian Test captain Virat Kohli had a spasm on his higher again on Monday morning and was dominated out of the second Test. "Virat is already feeling better, he's been doing a bit of fielding and think he'll be fine," stated Rahul. "With Siraj, we need to monitor him in the nets. It's tough to come back immediately from a hamstring issue, but we do have good bench strength in the form of Umesh and Ishant," he added. India and South Africa will now lock horns within the third Test from January 11. "We expected this when we came here, every Test will be competitive and challenging, we'll be hungrier after this disappointing loss. Looking forward to Cape Town and the third Test," Rahul signed off. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, SociallyKeeda Staff could not have modified or edited the content material physique)