India Tour of South Africa: Cheteshwar Pujara’s place in the eleven is becoming increasingly untenable

As a few years go by, and shinier new models hit the market, there is a feeling that one might have waited a bit longer and done better.

Then comes the stage when the running repairs are simply not worth the cost and effort, but you hang on through a sense of nostalgia.

And eventually, when you have to get somewhere important, on a rainy day, the vehicle just splutters to a stop and you have little choice but to bite the bullet.

Cheteshwar Pujara’s career is at that final stage. If he did not before, you can be sure Virat Kohli is feeling buyer’s remorse now.

On the first day of the second Test at the Wanderers, Pujara poked, prodded and jabbed his way to three runs off 32 balls before fending the 33rd. The ball, banged into the deck by Duanne Olivier, bounced a bit more than expected, took the shoulder of the bat and ballooned to point for a simple catch.

It was a handy delivery on a pitch that had something in it for the bowlers, but it was by no means unplayable, or indeed one that Pujara had to play at. This has been the problem with Pujara in the recent past.

It has not been a lack of intent that has been an issue. It has not been the scoring rate, something pointed to needlessly in the past, that has caused trouble.

The problem has been two-fold. Early on in his innings, Pujara is pressing forward, bat ahead of pad, not allowing the ball to come to him. Playing the waiting game was one of Pujara’s strengths, but for reasons that the batter and his coaches may be aware of, this has deserted him.

The second problem is that Pujara has been getting himself out, rather than being picked off by outstanding bowling.

At Centurion, Pujara went first ball, in the first innings, lunging forward and lobbing a catch to the close in fielder on the leg side. In the second innings, Pujara tried to play one that was slipping well down leg and feathered an edge to the wicketkeeper.

Since his last Test century, against Australia in January 2019, Pujara has played 26 Tests and 45 innings with a highest score of 91 at an average of 26.86. The saving grace is that he scored 11 half-centuries in the period, but to not convert any of those into a really big score is a blot.

You could argue that Ajinkya Rahane is in the same boat, and you would not be far off the mark. Except Rahane has that exceptional century in Australia and leading the team to a sensational win, in the recent pages of his resume. And the bright 48 in the last Test could have bought him one more Test.

Logically, India, when they transition, should leave out one of these two, bring in fresh legs and then phase out the second, if needed.

The simple thing to do, when Kohli comes back into the eleven for the third Test, is to bench Pujara, move Hanuma Vihari to No. 3 and play Shreyas Iyer at No. 6.

With India crashing and burning in the first innings, there may well be one last chance for Pujara to redeem himself. However, it will take something special to restore faith that has been sorely tested for far too long now.