The great Pujara v. Kohli v. Rahane debate

Considering variants of this enter other threads all the time and my boi is always underrated thought I'd start this up. It's amazing how all three have great techniques not only fundamentally but also from a stroke play POV and all three have shown the ability to change gears and attack after settling in tough conditions. All three were stars in FC cricket 2010-ish when I had too much free time and used to watch a lot of it. All of them have done admirably so far in test cricket as well.

Teja. said:

Ajinkya Rahane has the brightest future of the Indian bats, definitely.

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I've always been a massive Rahane fan and backed him to be the best of the lot and IMO he has the potential to be one of the best batsmen in the world for the next decade so the last eight months have been great for me.

So,

1. Who do you think will have the best career?

2. Who is the best among them right now at this point?

3. Do you think all three will be 100 test mainstays, who're you doubtful about?

This is super tough. Rahane has probably been the best Indian bat in the tours of South Africa, New Zealand and England, which is incredibly impressive given he came into the side in SA with only one poor test under his belt. Pujara has probably been the most impressive in his his test career though, due to greater longevity than Pujara. Kohli has arguably been the best across all formats though, and clearly has a bit of unused potential in the test arena at the moment IMO.

Pujara, but who knows. Rahane is batting in an easier position atm

NasserFan207 said:

Pujara, but who knows. Rahane is batting in an easier position atm

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He has got a lot of his runs in really tough match situations though.

Cabinet96 said:

This is super tough. Rahane has probably been the best Indian bat in the tours of South Africa, New Zealand and England, which is incredibly impressive given he came into the side in SA with only one poor test under his belt. Pujara has probably been the most impressive in his his test career though, due to greater longevity than Pujara. Kohli has arguably been the best across all formats though, and clearly has a bit of unused potential in the test arena at the moment IMO.

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itstl

I think they all have great potential but Pujara seems the most complete, Kohli already has 27 tests under his belt and still hasn't got a big hundred, maybe he lacks concentration, big hundreds can win you games and that's what he missing so far. I like Rahane but only seen him in this series and IPL so cant say much but he does look like player.

Rahane without a doubt.

Who knows, maybe Rohit will troll us all anf become better than all of them

Test matches ?

As of now Pujara, Rahane and then Kohli. .

Teja. said:

He has got a lot of his runs in really tough match situations though.

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Being able to succeed at no3 or opening says more about you as a batsman imo. Who knows how Rahane would perform if he had to come in during the opening spells with huge expectation on him.

Kohli. Once he gets his mind of the amazing Ms Sharma.

91Jmay said:

Test matches ?

As of now Pujara, Rahane and then Kohli. .

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This

Kohli and it's not close imo

Love all 3 and they are all extremely promising too, but Kohli's performance vs. South Africa at Johannesburg makes it clear who is better. Just watch that first innings ton (obviously Rahane's Lord's ton was gun but he didn't face bowling like Kohli did in that game).

He's still young as **** too and already has centuries in South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Hopefully he can get one in England this series as well.

Jono said:

Love all 3 and they are all extremely promising too, but Kohli's performance vs. South Africa at Johannesburg makes it clear who is better. Just watch that first innings ton (obviously Rahane's Lord's ton was gun but he didn't face bowling like Kohli did in that game).

He's still young as **** too and already has centuries in South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Hopefully he can get one in England this series as well.

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Yeah, that was an immense innings as was his effort in the second innings in the same game but Rahane's innings in the third innings of the second game when both Steyn and Philander were absolutely on fire was incredible too, he was not out for 50ish in the first innings and was the last wicket to go in the second innings, was a truly great performance.

I am still so annoyed that Kohli didn't get that ton in the 2nd innings at Jo'burg. Brutal.

Like all three but Pujara will remain the first love. Think both Pujara and Rahane will have a better career but Kohli's career wouldn't be anything bad. Hope the three of them are still around 10 years from now.

Rahane will be the best batsman in the world in 3 years time. He reminds of me Dravid even more than Pujara.

It's Kohli by a ****ing mile. He'll eventually come good and deliver the results his class demands. As I've pointed out before his Test best score is pretty pathetic really, he really ought to have scored one massive hundred by now.

Crude comparisons but Rahane will be the Andrew Jones to Kohli's David Gower. Kohli looks like a king when he bats and you're shocked when he gets out and in the final round up Rahane will average a lot closer to Kohli than you would expect, despite Kohli being the one everyone will talk about in 20 years.

I'm not sure where Pujara will wash up. I think teams have worked out where he can't hurt them so they just bowl in the safe areas and wait, even if it takes 100 balls. He's plenty good enough and has the time to adapt though so if he does I think he'll have the highest average of the lot due to his ability to ruthlessly accumulate and bat time.

edit: better comparison for Kohli might be KP.