Ajinkya Rahane, the much-beleaguered Indian batsman, is back in the Indian squad for the WTC final in England in June. First, it was Pujara and now, it is Rahane. Both the batsmen were dropped after the disastrous series in South Africa when it was no longer tenable to continue with the senior cricketers who were past their prime. The struggles of both Rahane and Pujara were simply unbearable, to say the least. Both of them were part of some historic wins. They have contributed handsomely. However, over the last 4 years, the runs have dried and so have the wins alongwith Kohli’s form. It was left to the bowlers to perform Houdini act most of the time and they weren’t successful. Now, Rahane is back in the Indian team.
It must be remembered that not long ago, Rahane was completely removed from the Indian players contract. He did not even find a spot in Category C. At that time, I had written that despite his being dropped, he must still be given a contract because it wasn’t that long ago. Never did I imagine that Rahane will find his way back into the squad.
What did Rahane do in the intervening period?
Well, he turned out for Mumbai during the hiatus period and emerged as the leading scorer with 634 runs including a double century against Hyderabad and a 191 against Assam. Now, it could be argued that both the oppositions has a weak bowling attack. It is true. For that matter, most if not all, of the teams in the Ranji Trophy have weak bowling attacks. The standard of Ranji Trophy is quite low but we will have to live with what we have. Now, these are impressive numbers but would that be enough for someone who is on the wrong side of the 30s and who had traditionally struggled, to be recalled?
Let me take the case of Pujara. He was quite flamboyant and extremely successful for Sussex in the English County Championship Division 2. He scored more than a thousand runs in a short period and those runs came at a fair clip. Pujara was so successful that he has now become the captain of Sussex. Perhaps, the only Indian to captain an English County side.
The curious case of Pujara
The board, the selectors and the team management were impressed and so were the rest of the country. There was a clamour for his recall into the side. He was recalled for the lone Test at Edgbaston. The result, there was absolutely no difference between the Pujara before he was dropped and the Pujara who was subsequently recalled. He struggled to time the ball and he struggled for scoring opportunities. His bat did not move beyond the hip. He stood rooted to the crease and for all that he has done for Sussex, this display at Edgbaston conclusively proved that the standard of English County is not that high. Though Pujara scored a hundred against Bangladesh, he wasn’t fluent at all against Australia.
I am not saying that a similar fate might befall Rahane but all I am saying is that is there any merit in choosing him? Perhaps, the selectors were handicapped because of the injury to Shreyas Iyer and the unimpressive Surya Yadav in the longest format. Also, the unavailability of Pant must have tied the hands of the selectors but none of these points to a recall for Rahane. India cannot keep going back to the tried and tested players whenever the selectors are in doubt. Sure, WTC Final calls for experience and the team has that in abundance. Kohli, Rohit, Pujara, Jadeja have been playing the game for over a decade. It would have made sense to blood-in a youngster in this game. If there isn’t anyone ready, it is the fault of the BCCI and the selectors for not producing enough talent.
A pitch that will help bowlers
The pitch will carry a lot more bounce than usual. ICC over the last several tournaments has ensured that the bowlers have a fair amount of support from the surface. That is the reason it is not that easy to find scores of over 325 that easily in ICC ODI tournaments when on the same ground, in other bilateral games, teams would have easily scored more than 350 and still felt vulnerable.
As such, it calls for 6 proper batsmen with 4 bowlers being enough. A youngster could have utilised this opportunity to play alongwith a Kohli or Rohit or Pujara to understand the nuances of the game at the highest level. Afterall, 5 experienced batsmen could easily shield a youngster. Now that chance has gone unutilised.
Now that Rahane is back in the squad, there is every chance that he will be part of the playing eleven. If the management decides to play 5 batsmen, Rahul will perhaps keep wickets instead of Bharat. I am afraid that this Indian team and Indian management and the Indian Board are running like headless chickens. They do not seem to have a plan for the future. Their actions are more like reactions than anything else. It is a shame that in a country with millions of cricketers, India is not able to find one batsman who could have been drafted instead of Rahane.
Wrapping up Rahane is back in the Indian team
Now that he is back, what are the chances of his longevity? Everything depends on this one performance. If he can perform a good job with the bat, he will continue for the next 2-3 years but India will be setback by 7-8 years because Rohit, Pujara, Kohli and Rahane are of the same age and are expected to retire with less time inbetween.
Please let me know what do you think of Rahane being in the squad. Do you think he deserves his spot or has the selectors blundered in not selecting a youngster who could go onto serve the country for a longer time?
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