Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane can bow out proudly if this is indeed the end

Thursday’s announcement of India’s squads for the upcoming tour of South Africa had its fair share of surprises. Both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli skipped the white-ball leg of the upcoming tour, with the former widely expected by many to assume charge in T20Is as well. Senior pros Yuzvendra Chahal and Sanju Samson returned to the side after being overlooked for recent assignments, including the World Cup. And the likes of B Sai Sudharsan and Rajat Patidar earned call-ups after their exploits in the Indian Premier League as well as in the domestic circuit.BCCI’s announcement on Thursday evening following secretary Jay Shah’s meeting with the Ajit Agarkar-led selection panel in New Delhi also possibly signalled the end of an era in Indian cricket.Veteran batters Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara were ignored for the two Tests that take place in Centurion and Cape Town respectively. Both Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul are back in the Test side for the first time since their lengthy injury layoffs, and given their stature, walk straight into the playing XI. That along with the number of youngsters waiting in the wings might just confirm the end of the road for the two senior Test specialists.The comebacks after initial axeIncidentally, it was after the previous tour of South Africa that Pujara and Rahane had been axed from the Test side together following extended lean patches with the bat, and many had written them off for good after that tour. Both, however, would go on to make comebacks.Read | 'You do get frustrated, even if you have to prove yourself after 90 Tests’: PujaraPujara would be picked for the delayed fifth Test against England in Birmingham later that summer on the back of a solid run in the County Championship, scoring a fighting half-century in the second innings. ChePu would also tour Bangladesh later that year where he scored 90 and 102 not out — his 19th Test hundred — in the first Test in Mirpur.However, Pujara’s grip on the No 3 position that he had made his own for over a decade started to slip out of his grasp once again. He did not have much to write home about in this year’s Border-Gavaskar Trophy barring a 59 on a difficult Indore track where he was the only Indian to go past 30.It was in the World Test Championship final against Australia, where he managed just 41 runs across two outings, that the selectors finally ran out of patience and axed him from the subsequent tour of the West Indies.Read | Sunil Gavaskar slams selectors for dropping Cheteshwar PujaraIt was also in the WTC final in which Rahane made his comeback into the Test side for the first time since his axing after the South Africa tour.Rahane had been in blazing form during this year’s IPL during Chennai Super Kings’ title-winning run. That, along with his solid numbers in the Ranji Trophy (634 runs at 57.63 as captain) as well as in the Duleep Trophy (250 runs at 62.50) contributed to him regaining his place in the Test side.The former India captain would then go on register one of the finest knocks of his career with a fighting 89 at The Oval, adding a 109-run sixth-wicket stand with Shardul Thakur that helped India avoid follow on and get within touching distance of the 300-mark after Australia posted 469 on the board. The knock gave India a fighting chance at being crowned world Test champions when the entire Indian top-order had crumbled in the face of top-quality seam-bowling from the Aussies.For a brief moment, it appeared as if Rahane had indeed salvaged his Test career. Maybe he would get to realise the dream of a 100 Test appearances like Pujara. Professional sport, however, isn’t really like most walks of life in that it’s a young man’s game and opportunities start drying up real quick once an athlete goes past 30.Rahane would have been well aware of the fact that like Pujara, he wouldn’t get the kind of backing from the team management that a younger member of the side would. For the two veterans to hold on to their spots in the face of increasing competition, they would have to churn out a series of big scores on a consistent basis that would ideally have a few three-figure knocks interspersed among them.Pujara’s No 3 slot would go to Shubman Gill in the West Indies tour, where Yashasvi Jaiswal got his international career off to a rollicking start with 171 on Test debut. Rahane, meanwhile, did himself no favour by collecting just 11 runs in the two Tests and it was only a matter of time before his No 5 position went to Iyer once he recovered from a back injury.Their snub for the South Africa Tests is by no means an official end to their careers, and it might take some time before the two make the announcement of hanging up their boots for good. But Jaiswal’s grand entry into the international arena and Iyer’s return pretty much signal the direction that India is headed towards in the five-day format.There’s the question of finding replacements for skipper Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli once they decide to move on, but that’s still some time away and Pujara and Rahane surely won’t replace them as an opener or at the No 4 slot.'Icons' Pujara and RahaneIf this indeed is the end of their long journeys, Pujara and Rahane will bow out as icons of the game nonetheless. Not only is Pujara one of India’s leading Test run-scorers with 7,195 runs in 103 Tests with 19 tons and 35 fifties, he will also bow out as India’s greatest No 3 since Rahul Dravid, the man he had succeeded at that position in the early 2010s.Rahane, on the other hand, would sign off with 5,077 Test runs in 85 appearances in which he primarily cemented his legacy as an overseas specialist, starting with his 96 against South Africa in Durban in the 2013-14 tour followed by centuries in Wellington, Lord’s and Melbourne later that year.The defining moment of his career, however, will be masterminding one of the greatest comebacks witnessed in cricketing history during the 2020-21 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, scoring a magnificent 116 in the Melbourne Test that began India’s turnaround after they had crashed to a humiliating defeat in the first Test.If this indeed is game over for the pair who formed an integral part of the Indian batting lineup for the better part of the past decade, then they sure can bow out with their heads held high.