Ajinkya Rahane Missed A Huge Opportunity: The first Test between India and New Zealand was an absolute nail-bitter. It went down to the last ball of the game and India fell agonisingly short of the victory mark. Every ball that was bowled in the last 30 minutes of the final day, had drama, thrill and agony in it for the Indian cricket fans.
But, India’s agony was New Zealand’s delight. Rachin Ravindra and Ajaz Patel batted out 8.4 overs and negotiated India’s spin-trio in the most confident manner. It wasn’t the most easy wicket bat against quality spinner like Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel, but Rachin and Ajaz showed great composure and confident and saved the match for New Zealand.
While it is true that Rachin Ravindra and Ajaz Patel negotiated brilliantly, it is also noteworthy that India missed a huge trick and Ajinkya Rahane just allowed things to happen, without being proactive in the middle.
There are two big mistakes that Ajinkya Rahane made in the last hour of the match, that cost India the match. Let’s have a look at those two mistakes in detail, here:
1) Too much hurry in the middle
When Rachin and Ajaz were batting and hoping for a draw, Indian bowlers and players who were standing around the bat looked in hurry to bowl as many overs as they can. All the three spinners just kept rushing to their mark and tried to finish their overs as quickly as they can. Ajinkya Rahane should have stepped in their and told his bowlers to take more time as it adds more pressure on batters, especially the tail-enders. It was evident from on-field umpire’s instructions that India will not get to bowl more than the minimum quota of overs, and this is why they should tried to slow down things in the middle and add more pressure on New Zealand’s tail-enders.
2) No pressure on the last pair
Indian cricket fans missed Virat Kohli’s energy and passion in the middle when the last player was hanging in there and taking match away from India’s grip. There were so many players around the batters, including captain Ajinkya Rahane, but we didn’t hear any chirping or sledging. India allowed those batters to be at their utmost ease and take their time to bat out the minimum quota of overs. It would be fair to say that Ajinkya Rahane’s lack of aggression was a huge let down for India in the most important hour of the game.
ALSO READ: BCCI Finally Breaks Silence On The Much-Awaited Tour
