This article is an analysis of Rahane’s performance in Test cricket. There was a time when Rahane could not do anything wrong. He was so consistent that his wicket was valued highly as that of Kohli and certainly above Pujara. Ajinkya Rahane, the player who has played a lot of wonderful innings in his career so far, is off late struggling for consistency. Probably it is time to revisit his place in the test team. It is not clear what caused his sudden fall from grace but it is prevelant nonetheless. Rahane’s career can be demarcated into 2 different categories.
Such has been his fall from grace. Up until the halfway point of his career, he averaged just above 50. That is the hallmark of a great batsman. Much was expected from him. At that stage, he was expected to be the ideal support for Kohli & Pujara and together all the three of them were expected to take Indian test batting to heights that was previously occupied by Sehwag, Dravid, Tendulkar & Laxman.
It is difficult to point exactly what went wrong with Rahane’s batting. Did he lose his test abilities because he wanted to be part of the short format teams as well? Did he lose his test abilities because of the unwarranted comments by Kohli & Shastri of him being considered as an opener and he wasn’t a quick scorer? We would never know but it is a fact that he has suffered a serious dip in form that it is a miracle that he is still in the team.
Rahane’s earlier in his career
Rahane made his debut against Australia in India but that was only one test. After that he travelled to South Africa for his next test. South Africa at that point were absolutely in the peak of their abilities. Steyn as always was a menace in the South African wickets. With Philander and Morkel as support, South Africa had a bowling combination that most teams will love to have. Against such an attack, Rahane of whom not much was expected, actually enhanced his name. Apart from Kohli, it was Rahane who came away from that tour as a grand success.
Subsequently, he travelled to New Zealand, England & Australia where he actually enhanced his reputation of being the mainstay of the Indian batting outside of India. His 100 at Lords from a dire situation, helped the Indian team to win that test. In Australia, the way he took on Johnson and Harris in the Melbourne test forced everyone to take notice of the special talent. Shortly after, Rahane scored few more hundreds in India and Sri Lanka and that took his career average to above 50. It is the hallmark of a great batsman. Every Indian cricket follower thought that India had a solid middle order comparable to the greats of the preceding generation.
Soft spoken but nevertheless run accumulator
Rahane is someone who does not speak much and he is someone who prepares immaculately for every game. Probably because, when it comes to Indian batting, everyone followed the successes of Kohli to a large extent and of Pujara to a lesseer extent, there wasn’t any real pressure on Rahane. Rahane never really had any trouble against the fastest bowler to the most beguiling of spinner. His pull shots never have the savagery of a Warner or a Ponting nor did his cover drive has the silken touch of a Dravid or a Lara. Nonetheless, they all packed a punch.
He is someone who always seems to be having lots of time to play a particular shot. For such a short man, his exploits against the likes of Johnson, Steyn, Anderson & Broad is nothing short of legendary. Great thinks were expected of Rahane at this stage. India which have only three batsmen over 70 years to average over 50 when they retired, suddenly seems to have found three who could end up with 50 plus average. Rahane was one of them.
He captained the Indian team in one test against Australia. This probably will be his last test as captain. He proved in that one test to be a good thinker when he picked Kuldeep Yadav in the playing eleven. This inspired move ensured that India won the test and the series. There was a stage when the fans were demanding Kohli to be replaced by Rahane as the captain. At this point, Rahane’s stocks were extremely high. A most reliable batsman, especially in foreign conditions & a good thinker, Rahane definitely had everything going for him. Alas, the fall was also equally drastic.
Rahane’s fall
Rahane’s fall from such heights was most unexpected. In this period, he played a lot of games in familiar environs, in India. Yet, he found run scoring extremely difficult. For a player who scored runs against ferocious attacks in their own backyard, to fail against lesser attacks in India was unfathomable. Everyone will go through a phase were they will find difficult to score runs or take wickets. Even the greats of the game have went through similar phases, but Rahane’s barren run seemed to go out of his control. Leave alone hundreds, even fifties was difficult. In over 60% of the innings during this period, he failed to cross 40.
For a middle order batsman, that is not a record that he will be proud of. Despite his struggle, he was persisted with though he was dropped for the odd test. There was one innings during this period which should have heralded the old Rahane. The 46 he scored in Johannesburg that enabled India to win the test was scored in one of the most difficult pitches a batsman can get but that proved to be a false start. Rahane’s struggle during the second phase were far too many.
Statistics game
Rahane’s record is like a tale of two cities. In the first half, he played in 29 tests and had an average of 51.37 with 8 hundreds. In the second half, his performance has been atrocious. It certainly is not the hallmark of even a good batsman leave alone a great one. In 36 tests, he has scored only 1994 at an average of 36.25 with three hundreds. He has also scored 13 fifties in 56 innings. We will have to bear in mind that one hundred and four fifties have come in the last 11 innings.
This essentially means that for a major part of his career Rahane has been a failure. If not for Kohli’s brilliance and Pujara’s tenacity and the fact that the bowling was brilliant, India would have been under serious trouble even in the games that we won. Kohli, Pujara and to a lesser extent, Rohit & Mayank covered Rahane’s failures a great deal.
Conclusion
Rahane is 32 years old with not much of cricket left in him. He has had his fair share of success at the highest level and he definitely has contributed significantly in quite a few Indian wins, especially, out of India. Nonetheless, there a quite a few players who are waiting for a chance. The likes of Shubnam Gill, Vihari, Iyer, Pandey to name a few. Rahane will have to be given an ultimatum. He may play the first couple of tests in Australia and if he fails, Rahane himself must gracefully step aside rather than the team dropping him forever.
Does Rahane really needs to be in the team? Has he done enough to command a place in the squad? leave your comments
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