After thrashing the New Zealand cricket team with a clean sweep of 3-0 in the just concluded 3-match T20I series, the Indian cricket team is all set to lock horns with the Kiwis in the 2-match Test series. Ahead of the big series, former Indian cricketer and world cup hero Gautam Gambhir expressed his concern about the Indian stand-in captain, Ajinkya Rahane.
Ajinkya Rahane will be seen leading the Indian team in the 1st test match against the Kiwis in the absence of regular skipper Virat Kohli.
He has been struggling with the bat for a long time now and has found himself under the scanner. e amassed 268 runs in 4 Tests against Australia in 2020/21. In fact in the home series against England, Rahane averaged 18.66 for his 112 runs across 6 innings.
In the World Test Championship final, Rahane scored 49 and 15 balls. However, he could only score 109 runs at 15.57 in the four-Test matches that followed.
Recently, in an interview, Gambhir admitted that the stand-in skipper, Ajinkya Rahane, is “pretty fortunate” to be still part of the Indian squad because he is the captain. He also hoped for the batsman to make most of the Test series in order to cement his place. He said:
I am going to open with Mayank Agarwal and KL Rahul because he opened in England and then probably Shubman Gill will bat at No. 4. That’s what I would want to see and plus Rahane is pretty fortunate that he’s still part of this side because he’s leading… But again he’s got another opportunity now, hopefully, he can make that count,”
Gambhir’s statements have received mixed reactions from the fans to it. While many agreed with the former Indian cricketer, there were many who disagreed with him on his opinion.
Among many, a popular statistician & analyst, Arun Gopalakrishnan took to his Twitter and asked Gambhir a big question. In his Tweet, Arun questioned Gautam Gambhir on his statements on Rahane by asking him why he didn’t say the same about Virat Kohli.
Virat Kohli has been going through a lean patch with the bat and hasn’t scored a century in 2 years. He wrote:
“I want someone to ask @GautamGambhir, who has reportedly mentioned “Rahane is fortunate to still be in the Test team”, if he’d say the same about Virat Kohli too, who, as someone reminded me today, hasn’t scored an international 100 in two years! Rahane a soft target?”
Here, check out the Tweet:
I want someone to ask @GautamGambhir, who has reportedly mentioned “Rahane is fortunate to still be in the Test team”, if he’d say the same about Virat Kohli too, who, as someone reminded me today, hasn’t scored an international 100 in two years! Rahane a soft target?
— Arun Gopalakrishnan (@statanalyst) November 22, 2021
Meanwhile, the Indian test specialist is expected to make a return in the home series, which will kickstart from November 25th in Kanpur.
