VVS Laxman believes Ajinkya Rahane needs a break, having failed to make his presence felt in the ongoing five-match Test series against England.
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Former Indian cricketer VVS Laxman believes that it is time for Team India to give Ajinkya Rahane a break. Rahane has scored just 109 runs in four Tests of the ongoing five-match series against England. The vice-captain has accumulated those runs at an average of 15.57, failing to contribute to the middle order when it matters the most. Rahane was dismissed for a duck in the second innings of the ongoing fourth Test at Oval. This has emerged as an area of concern with the rest of the batsmen scoring runs freely.
Since his match-winning hundred in the Melbourne Test against Australia last year, Rahane has averaged less than 20 in 11 Tests. His lack of form has certainly hurt the Indian team, who have not enjoyed the necessary depth in the middle order.
“It’s time to give Rahane a break. I am not sure of what the future holds for him. He is a quality player and I always believe that quality players come back into the team. But, the kind of form and confidence he has shown and the body language when he was out there in the middle Not once during his eight-ball innings did Ajinkya Rahane look convincing,” said Laxman in an interaction with ESPNCricinfo as quoted by India Today.
The former Indian cricketer further believes that the decision to promote Ravindra Jadeja to No. 5 in both the innings of the Oval Test, is a clear indication of the team management’s mindset when it comes to Rahane.
“Promoting Jadeja in the second innings, the message is very clear. At the moment, the team management feels that Ajinkya Rahane is not in great rhythm, he is out of touch and low on confidence,” added Laxman.
“You don’t want to go into a Test match with that kind of a mindset, especially in case of a senior batsman. I just feel, come the Old Trafford Test match, there may be a change and Vihari may get a chance ahead of Ajinkya Rahane,” he concluded.
Batting coach Vikram Rathour has played down concerns over Rahane’s form, saying the vice-captain still remains a crucial member of the batting unit.
“Not at this point. As I have said earlier also, when you are playing cricket for such a long time, you will have phases where you won’t get runs. That’s a time when as a team, you need to back them and support them as much as we can,” said Rathour.
“We saw that with Pujara also, he got more opportunities and [made a] come back, he’s played a couple of important innings for us. We are hoping that Ajinkya will also get back to form, and he’ll, you know, still play a major role in the Indian team’s batting. So, I don’t think we have arrived to that point where it should become a concern,” he added.
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