CHENNAI: Ajinkya Rahane is the talk of the town. In fact, he has been for a while thanks to the form he has shown in the ongoing Indian Premier League season. On Tuesday, however, it was for a different reason. The 34-year-old had been recalled to the Indian Test side after over a year for the World Test Championship final.
Over the last three weeks, Rahane has smashed 209 runs at an average of 52.25 while striking at 199.04, the highest SR for any batter this season. From the outset, it would seem that the middle-order bat was picked based on the limelight he has grabbed, but as is often the case, there is more to it.
Rahane was left out in early 2022 after the series against South Africa tour along with Cheteshwar Pujara, as the BCCI looked for a smooth transition. How has it worked out? Not quite well. First, Rishabh Pant, who has been the backbone of the Indian Test team for three years now, met with an accident and is out of action. Then, Shreyas Iyer, too, got injured and is going through a long lay-off, leaving a hole in the middle-order. A part of that transition involved investing time in Shubman Gill. They even opened with him in Bangladesh after Rohit Sharma suffered an injury.
For the home series against Australia, Suryakumar Yadav was called up based on his white-ball reputation but it did not work out. It was a chance for the team management to try Gill in the middle but KL Rahul’s below-par returns meant he was removed as vice-captain and dropped for third and fourth Tests. So they had no choice but to persist with Gill at the top. Now, with the WTC final, it seems like the team management are back to square one.
While Pujara made a comeback on the sheer weight of runs in county cricket and even played match-winning knocks in Bangladesh, the No. 5 is a slot that they had to make a call. Rahane, in the recently concluded Ranji Trophy, led Mumbai and amassed 634 runs at 57.63. These are not numbers that light up the eyes, and there are a few who have scored more runs in the middle-order. However, Arpit Vasavada and Anustup Majumdar, both of whom played the Ranji final, haven’t even played for India A in the last two years. Among those who have, Rajat Patidar is injured and out of action and Hanuma Vihari fractured his hand during the Ranji Trophy. Then there is Sarfaraz Khan, who hasn’t made the most of his chances with India A. Also, sometimes he has struggled against pace and bounce in Indian surfaces as he did against Chirag Jani and Jaydev Unadkat in the Duleep Trophy final.
Which brings the debate back to Rahane. He was out for a year and was even left out of the central contract that was announced by the BCCI last month. There was a clear indication that they were moving on from him. But he finds himself back in the mix as India launch another attempt to win an ICC title. Quite a few things have fallen in place for the 34-year-old and the form and confidence that he has shown in the IPL has only reaffirmed his case rather than being the sole reason for his selection. There are questions of course. Will he start in the playing XI with the possibility of Rahul keeping wickets? Will he deliver to help India end the trophy drought? Will he be persisted with beyond the WTC final? One will have to wait and see. For now, given what is at stake, they have turned to the safest option that is available in Rahane.
Squad
Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, K L Rahul, KS Bharat (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat.