Making Rahane sit out has brought a lot of criticism Kohli’s way. Kohli is being already slammed badly for having dropped Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Rohit Sharma’s dismal performance in the first innings at Centurion will only add to his woes.
Rohit Sharma again failed just like the two innings at Cape Town. India’s stormy opener in the limited overs format fell for just 10 in the first innings at Centurion. This makes the question about Rahane’s exclusion echo even louder and the captain and coach must answer.
India made three changes to the playing XI for the second test. Shikhar Dhawan was punished for his poor show at Cape Town and so was Saha. KL Rahul and Parthiv Patel made their place to the playing eleven and Ishant were included at Bhuvi’s cost.
Why Punish Dhawan and Not Rohit?
If Shikhar Dhawan was punished for being dismal in the first test, why did India not do the same to Rohit Sharma? Rohit Sharma too would
have been dropped if the performance in the first test was to be the deciding factor for the second.
If Dhawan was punished then Rohit Sharma too deserved the axe. Rohit Sharma was even more miserable than Shikhar Dhawan in the Cape Town test.
Why is Rahane Sitting Out?
Rohit maybe a better batsman than Rahane in the limited overs format, but for the longest format, Ajinkya Rahane is a better batsman. More important Ajinkya Rahane is tailor-made for the kind of pitches in South Africa and he has a good record against the Proteas.
Persistence with Rohit Sharma is doing no good to India as he has scored just 31 runs in his last 3 innings.
Rohit Sharma was dismissed at 10 by Kagiso Rabada by a delivery that nipped back. Rohit failed to move his feet and got stuck at the crease.
