Page 50 - The Indian EYE 010722

SpORTS JANUARY 07, 2022 | The Indian Eye 50

IndIan Tour of SouTh afrIca

no century for Virat Kohli in 2021 and

entry of Tendulkar in big league in 2022

As the Men in Blue land in South Africa and prepare to take on the hosts in the Test series,
we bring to you glimpses of action on the filed and off it

OUR BUREAU ‘we need To Be PaTIenT’:
Pretoria vIkram raThour on PuJara,
ndian Test skipper Virat Kohli rahane’S form
ended the year 2021 without
Iscoring a century in international eam India’s batting coach
Vikram Rathour has again
cricket as he departed for 18 in the Tcome out in support of
second innings of the first Test against Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Ra-
South Africa on Wednesday.
hane following the batters’ lean patch
in the longest format of the game.
In 2020 also kohli had failed While Rahane did score 48 and

to reach the triple-figure mark. 20 in the first Test against South Af-
rica, Pujara departed for a duck be-
The Indian skipper had last fore hitting 16 in the second innings.
scored a ton in the day-night “As far as Pujara and Rahane are
concerned, they are trying their best,
Test against Bangladesh at they are giving their best. Rahane

eden gardens in 2019. South was in really good touch but unfor-
tunately, he got out, so has Pujara,”
africa bowler marco Jansen re- said Rathour in the press conference
moved kohli in the 33rd over after the end of Day Four’s play
“Pujara in past has played some
as the batter’s quest for his important innings for us, you see

71st ton continued. these are challenging conditions, not
many people have scored runs here.
We need to be patient as long as they
SPlIT caPTaIncY can are trying their best, giving their best
as coaching unit we are fine. Are we
Be BleSSIng In dISguISe: getting impatient? Not at this stage, I

ravI ShaSTrI think,” he added.
After India were folded in the
ormer Team India head coach second session on Wednesday, 40.5
Ravi Shastri has said that split overs were bowled with South Af-
Fcaptaincy can be a blessing in Virat Kohli rica losing four wickets in the tricky
disguise for both Virat Kohli and Ro- phase.
hit Sharma. said on Star Sports’ show ‘Bold and Shastri also said that he would Team India’s batting coach
Rohit Sharma has been named Brave’. not have considered himself as a suc- wants bowlers to hit the same length
as the white-ball captain, while Kohli Talking about his equation with cessful coach if he was not able to get on Thursday to seal the win for the
will continue to lead the side in the Kohli, Shastri said: “We’re both pret- the best out of Rohit Sharma as Test visitors.
longest format of the game. “I think ty aggressive, we want to play to win. opener. “This Test cricket, nothing is easy
it’s the right way to go. This could be We realized very quickly that to win “It was very clear in my mind I feel, we still need to bowl well, we
a blessing in disguise for Virat, and you need to take 20 wickets, deciding that I wanted to do it. I thought if I still need to bowl in the right areas.
for Rohit because I don’t think in to play aggressive and fearless crick- can’t get the best out of him as a bats- The way we bowled today, if we keep
this era if the bubble life exists for et. It meant at times you would lose man then I am a failure as a coach hitting those lengths consistently, we
another year or so, one guy to han- games but once you got one across because there is too much talent will create lots of opportunities,” said
dle all three is not easy at all,” Shastri the line, then its infectious.” there,” said Shastri. Continued at next page... >>

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