India is in a strong position at the end of Day 4 of the ongoing opening Test against South Africa in Centurion.  South Africa needs 211 runs to win on the last day while India needs to pick the six wickets to get a winning start in the series. However, there is a bad weather forecast on the last day and rain may play a spoilsport.

For India, the veteran batters, Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara are a worrying sign. Rahane has managed just 479 runs in 2021 at an average of 20.87 while Pujara has 702 runs with an average of 28.08. However, the Indian batting coach Vikram Rathour has come in support of both the batsmen despite their poor form saying that they are trying their best.

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During the post-day press conference, Vikram Rathour said, “As far as Pujara and Rahane are concerned, they are trying their best, they are giving their best. Rahane was in really good touch but unfortunately, he got out, so has Pujara.”

He further added, “Pujara in past has played some important innings for us, you see these are challenging conditions, not many people have scored runs here. We need to be patient as long as they are trying their best, giving their best as coaching unit we are fine. Are we getting impatient? Not at this stage, I think.”

India has dismissed four wickets of the South Africa innings and the opposition is poised at 94/4 going into the last day of play. Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj picked a single wicket each while Japsrit Bumrah picked a couple of wickets. Rathour believes that Indian bowlers should bowl at the same lengths consistently to win.

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Elaborating the same, Vikram Rathour said, “This Test cricket, nothing is easy I feel, we still need to bowl well, we still need to bowl in the right areas. The way we bowled today, if we keep hitting those lengths consistently we will create lots of opportunities.”