Ajinkya Rahane’s poor form and whether he will be selected for India’s tour of South Africa, are two of the most hot questions in the Indian cricket. Ajinkya Rahane is the vice-captain of India’s Test team but now when the selectors will sit together to finalise India’s squad for the Test series against South Africa, there are high chances that Rahane will not even find a place, let alone his prestigious vice-captaincy.
Ajinkya Rahane has scored just 3 hundreds in his last 28 Test matches, in 10 series since August 2019. He has struggled to score runs in almost every playing condition, and looked nothing close what he has in the 3-4 years in international cricket. Rahane has looked out of form, low on confidence and unsure about his technique. And it hasn’t been easy for Indian cricket fans to see him like that after he promised so much in his first fews of international cricket.
Now, when the fans and pundits are waiting for the selectors to announce India’s squad for the tour of South Africa, many former cricketers have said that Ajinkya Rahane shouldn’t be a part of India’s playing XI in the Test series against South Africa.
In this post, we have complied a list of cricket pundits and former cricketers who believe Ajinkya Rahane shouldn’t be in India’s playing XI.
1) VVS Laxman picks Shreyas Iyer or Rahane.
“According to me, Ajinkya Rahane cannot play in the first match. Continuity is very important, so I will play Shreyas Iyer because if you give someone two Test matches and the way he batted on debut under pressure,” VVS Laxman said on Star Sports.
2) Steve Harmison wants Indian selectors to drop Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane
“I think they both make way, there’s lots of questions about Rahane and Pujara, they both might make way. I think Suryakumar Yadav, he plays in Mumbai for Mumbai Indians. He was brought into the squad as a replacement for KL Rahul, I think they both [Rahane and Pujara] looked as if they were done, they both walked off the field in that first innings as I they knew it may be the last time they walk off the field for India.”
3) Daniel Vettori believes Ajinkya Rahane should be dropped and sent back to the drawing board.
“He (Rahane) looks like he wants to be aggressive; he doesn’t feel tentative while he is batting. But still he is getting out, and ostensibly that starts to weigh on a batsman’s mind. I think, being dropped and have the ability to come back can then reset a lot of things for someone, particularly as a batsman,” Daniel Vettori told ESPN Cricinfo.
4) Nikhil Chopra had suggested that India should drop Ajinkya Rahane for the second Test against New Zealand.
“Instead of dropping Mayank Agarwal, Ajinkya Rahane should make way for Virat Kohli. Rahane doesn’t have a great average and it shows his struggles in recent years,” Nikhil Chopra said.
5) Vinod Kambli had called for Rahane’s dropping in August 2021 during the Test series against England.
“It is time to rest Ajinkya and get Surya Kumar Yadav instead of playing four fast bowlers get in Ashwin and if i was the captain I will talk to every individual players regarding the middle order batsmen and boost their confidence,” Vinod Kambli had tweeted.
6) Simon Doull believes Ajinkya Rahane’s time is over
“It’s a bit like airplane loyalty card points, at some point, it’s going to run out. I know Rahane is a champion human being, I know he is a huge part of this setup and part of the leadership group. But players with far better numbers over 29 innings have been dropped from this team. I know he has got a good record overseas but his time seems to have passed,” said Simon Doull on Star Sports.
