After a humiliating defeat in the first Test in Bengaluru, India will look to make a comeback in the ongoing Test series against New Zealand. The second Test will be played at Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune from October 24 to 28. India need to win this game to prevent a home Test series loss after 12 years. The good news for the Indian fans is that both Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant have been declared fit to play in the second Test.
However, if both Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant play in the second Test, the main question arises about KL Rahul and Sarfaraz Khan’s place in the playing XI in Pune. Sarfaraz smashed brilliant 150(195) runs in the second innings as India gave a fightback to New Zealand after getting bowled out for 46 runs in the first innings. On the other hand, KL Rahul failed to score big and was out for 12 runs in the first Test.
There’s competition and fight for the spot: Rya n ten Doeschate
In a recent press conference ahead of the second Test, the assistant coach of the Indian cricket team, Ryan ten Doeschate said that, there will be competition to find a place in the playing XI for the second Test. Talking about KL Rahul, Ten Doeschate also added that there’s nothing wrong with the right-hander’s form currently, but he has to get fit among the seven players in the middle-order.
“Nothing to sugarcoat. There’s competition and fight for the spot. Sarfaraz was brilliant in Bengaluru. I went to KL after the last game and asked how many did you play-and-miss and there were none apart from those two balls where he got dismissed. He is in a good mental space but we will have to fit in six players out of seven in the middle-order. So yes there’s competition,” Ryan ten Doeschate was quoted as saying by RevSports.