England vs India: Exclusion threat looms over Ajinkya Rahane following slump form in Tests

Indian vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane has had a bad tour of England till now, having not being able to make many run contributions for India. In the recently concluded fourth Test match at the Oval, Rahane scored 14 runs in the first innings and returned to the Pavillion after being dismissed for zero from just eight balls in the second innings. His only notable contribution was his innings of 61 runs in the second Test at Lord’s. Despite earning victories in both the aforementioned matches, India have certainly missed the brilliance of its middle-order batsman. India currently leads the five-match Test series 2-1, after winning the second and fourth Test of the series.

Ajinkya Rahane's runs from his last 10 Test innings

Meanwhile, Indian veteran cricketer Sunil Gavaskar, while speaking on the Sony Sports Network, dropped his thoughts on Rahane’s lack of form. He pointed out that Ravindra Jadeja coming in to bat ahead of Ajinkya Rahane is something India could have avoided to boost Rahane’s confidence in the fourth Test match. Jadeja came in to bat at no. 5 in both the innings, however managed to score only 10 and 17 runs. According to a report by Hindustan Times, Gavaskar said, “That was a bad shot for a man out of form… to be playing across the line towards square leg. There is no way the ball was going to meet the ball. His confidence is short. He was not confident before because he hadn’t scored runs apart from that 60 at Lord's. At Leeds, he hadn't got runs”.

Gavaskar also feels that the decision of India to send Jadeja ahead of Rahane will surely dent Rahane’s confidence. He further added, “In the first innings, I had generally thought that Ravindra Jadeja was promoted over him because perhaps Rahane was on a toilet break. But now in the second innings as well, when Jadeja went ahead of him – and it hasn't worked - what it's done to the psychology of a player – is that it says 'look, we are not showing any confidence in you'. The confidence has to be shown. He is not scoring runs but he should be told that at No. 5, you are our batsman…' not at 6. And that is what happened. No surprises that he got out for 0”.

Ajinkya Rahane has scored 27, 49, 15, 5, 1, 61, 18, 10, 14, and 0 runs in his last 10 Test innings. Meanwhile, India’s batting coach Vikram Rathour also had his say about Rahane’s recent performances. During the post-match press conference, Rathour said, “As I said earlier also, when you are playing cricket for a long time, you will have phases where you will not get runs. That is the time when we need to support the player as a team. As we saw with Pujara also, he has played a couple of important innings for us. We are hoping Ajinkya will get back into form and still play a major role in the Indian team's batting. I do not think we have arrived at that point where Rahane's form should become a concern”. Despite Rathour not being too concerned over Rahane’s poor form, his inclusion in the playing XI for the next match at Old Trafford in Manchester still lies unclear and it looks like a tough road ahead for Rahane.

(Image Source: PTI)