Former India captain and the BCCI president Sourav Ganguly has given rigid advice to the out-of-form duo of Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane. Ganguly suggested the struggling pair go back to play in the Ranji Trophy and regain their form.
Both the senior batters are under severe scrutiny for their inconsistent performances for over 2 years. Since the start of 2020, Pujara averages 26 in 20 Tests with no three-figure score, while Rahane averages 24 in 19 Tests with one century to his name.
In the recently-lost Test series in South Africa, both the batters managed one fifty each in 6 innings. Rahane, who has already been sacked as the vice-captain, is fighting for his place with Hanuma Vihari and Shreyas Iyer, and he may lose his spot in the upcoming home Test series against Sri Lanka.
Sourav Ganguly admitted that there is no problem for international players to go back to domestic cricket in need of runs, having himself traversed this route when he was dropped from the Indian team and made a comeback.
“Yeah, they are very good players. Hopefully, they will go back to Ranji Trophy and score a lot of runs, which I am sure they will. I don’t see any problem [for them to go back to domestic cricket after playing so much international cricket],” Sourav Ganguly told Sportstar.
The BCCI president, Sourav Ganguly pointed out that since Pujara and Rahane are one-format players for India, they shouldn’t have any issues in playing Ranji Trophy this season.
“Ranji Trophy is a huge tournament, and we have all played the tournament. So, they, too, will go back there and perform. They have played the tournament in the past when they were only playing Test cricket and were not part of the ODI or limited-overs team. So, that won’t be a problem,” Ganguly added.
The Ranji Trophy 2022 season, which was postponed earlier due to covid-19, is set to start on February 10 and will be played in two phases. The first phase will be played until March 15 and the second phase will be held from May 30 to June 26 with the IPL 2022 between them.
This gives Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane, both of whom have registered for the IPL auction, an opportunity to find their forms with loads of runs in Ranji Trophy. India’s Test series against Sri Lanka is scheduled for March.
