Rahane and Pujara are India's best middle-order players: Rahul

Standin skipper KL Rahul said Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane are Team Indias best middleorder batters and their knocks in the second innings of the second Test will give them the confidence to do better in the next matchPujara along with Ajinkya Rahane stitched a 111run stand for the third wicket and helped India extend their lead on Wednesday Both batters were going through a lean patch but ended up hitting crucial fifties on Day Three of the second Test against South AfricaThey have been great players for us on Pujara and Rahane have always done the job for us over the years have been under the pump recently but we believe Pujara and Rahane are our best middleorder players to go out there bat in that mindset and play such an innings Itll give them confidence and make them do even better in the next Test said KL Rahul after India suffered a defeat in the second TestDean Elgar played a captains knock scoring an unbeaten 96 to take the hosts to a 7wicket win levelling the 3match series 11 against IndiaKL Rahul said the visitors were 5060 runs short in the first inningsEvery Test match we play we want to win we go out there and compete hard but South Africa played really well and deserved this victory We were looking to get on the field today try and do something special 122 to get the pitch was playing up and down we had a good chance but their batters played really well said RahulIf I want to be harsh the first innings total of 202 was at least 5060 runs short we should have scored more and put them under pressure Shardul Thakur has been superb for us has won us a lot of games he bowled well in the first innings and gave us a chance today as well he addedIndian Test captain Virat Kohli had a spasm on his upper back on Monday morning and was ruled out of the second TestVirat is already feeling better hes been doing a bit of fielding and think hell be fine said RahulWith Siraj we need to monitor him in the nets Its tough to come back immediately from a hamstring issue but we do have good bench strength in the form of Umesh and Ishant he addedIndia and South Africa will now lock horns in the third Test from January 11We expected this when we came here every Test will be competitive and challenging well be hungrier after this disappointing loss Looking forward to Cape Town and the third Test Rahul signed offThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever