Ajinkya Rahane Shares His Thoughts On Omission From 2018 South Africa Tests
Dec 26, 2019 at 5:42 PM
India’s deputy Ajinkya Rahane has shared his thoughts on his omission from the 2018 South Africa Test matches. Surprisingly, Ajinkya Rahane was dropped from the first two Test matches against the Proteas. India’s limited-overs vice-captain Rohit Sharma was given the chance in place of Ajinkya Rahane because of the current form. However, Rohit was not able to grab his chance with both hands as he was dismissed cheaply.
Meanwhile, it took 15-20 minutes for Ajinkya Rahane to understand what just happened after he was dropped from the final XI. It was a bolt from the blue as Rahane had been a consistent performer for the Indian team in the red ball version.
It was a bolt from the blue for Rahane.
Ajinkya Rahane said while talking to Hindustan Times, “For me to go through that moment was also very difficult. I took about 10-15 minutes to gather myself. After that, I thought, ‘no, it’s about the team’. If the team management feels the combination is good, it is”.
Ajinkya Rahane added, “Cricket is a team sport. It is what I have learned from my coaches. When you are dropped, you feel bad till a certain time but you have to look at the bigger picture. Whether the combination clicks in that match or not, I must respect the decision of the team management, and I respected it. But somewhere I felt disappointed, especially given my overseas record. In the end, what the team wants is what matters and I have always respected that”.
In fact, India adopted a peculiar selection policy on the South African tour in 2018 as they dropped Bhuvneshwar Kumar. The swing master had scalped seven wickets in the first Test match at Cape Town but he was still dropped in the second Test.
Meanwhile, AJinkya Rahane was able to roar back in form on the tour of the West Indies as he scored 271 runs in the two-Test matches. Rahane was also able to get consistent runs in the Test series against South Africa and Bangladesh.