Cheteshwar Pujara’s below-par run in home conditions continued and the senior batsman bagged a five-ball duck on the opening day of the Mumbai Test match against New Zealand. Much was expected from Pujara in the last Test match before the South Africa tour.

But he struggled and got bowled by spinner Ajaz Patel in the 30th over. Pujara’s wicket left the team in a bit of trouble and Virat Kohli’s four-ball duck added to the woes.

Pujara was one of the players whose spot wasn’t confirmed for the Test match but with Ajinkya Rahane out, there was only one change in the middle-order.  Pujara, a veteran of 91 Test matches, looks set to tour South Africa but it remains to be seen if he will be part of the final XI or not.

Before the tour, former India pacer Dodda Ganesh has opined that Pujara won’t be in the playing XI. Ganesh took to Twitter to take a dig at Pujara and wrote that it’s his time to have a side strain.

It is to be noted that Rahane, Ishant Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja aren’t playing the ongoing Test match due to injuries. “So it’s next Pujara’s turn to have a side strain on the morning of the Johannesburg test,” he wrote.

Pujara did play important knocks on the England tour but he has struggled at home since the resumption of the sport. Pujara only managed 133 runs in 4 home Tests earlier this year. In the ongoing series, Pujara has scores of 26, 22 and 0.

Mayank Agarwal leads the way for India

Opening batsman Mayank Agarwal was the star performer of the day in the Mumbai Test match and remained unbeaten on 120 off 246. There were doubts over the right-handed batsman’s spot in the playing XI before the start of the fixture. But Mayank has now added to the team management’s headache as Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul will return for the SA tour.

Rahul, who scored 315 runs on the England tour, only got a chance there after Mayank was ruled out of the series-opener.