"Hopefully, They Will Go Back To..." Sourav Ganguly's Suggestion For Ajinkya Rahane And Cheteshwar Pujara

India batters Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara have been under the scanner for their performances of late in Test cricket. Many current and former cricketers have suggested that the Indian team should drop the veteran duo, urging the management to look ahead to the future. However, BCCI president Sourav Ganguly has a different suggestion for India's Test veterans. The former India skipper feels both Rahane and Pujara shouldn't mind going back to playing domestic cricket, having played so much international cricket.

"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]," Ganguly said during an interview with Sportstar.

Ganguly also said that since Rahane and Pujara are not a part of India's white-ball setup, they should go back and test themselves in Ranji Trophy and other domestic competitions.

"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," he added.

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While Rahane last reached triple figures during the Boxing Day Test against Australian in December 2020, Pujara hasn't scored a ton in over three years -- the Sydney Test against Australia in January 2019.

It will be interesting to see whether both players will find a place in Indian team for their next Test assignment, which will be against Sri Lanka during a two-match series in March on home soil.