There is absolutely no denying the fact that Ajinkya Rahane has become an indispensable part of the Indian Test team but when it comes to One-Day International, his place in the team is far from being cemented.
The right-handed batsman has scored over two thousand runs in Tests at an average of over 50 but his statistics take a tumbling when it comes to 50-overs cricket. In 70 matches so far, the Mumbai batsman has managed to score 2159 runs at an unimpressive average of over 32. Before the ongoing ODI against New Zealand, there were opinions from various quarters that the lack of spending enough time in the middle was a prime reason behind his inconsistent performance. However, the story has remained the same even after he was promoted to open the innings in the current series.His scores in the first three matches of the series are 33, 28 and 5.
With speculations rising around his place in the team, former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly has said that it will be insane to drop him from the ODI team. Citing former Indian batsman Rahul Dravid’s example, Ganguly said that the team needs to assign Rahane a role in order to get the most out of him.
“He is not a boundary-hitter. He needs a bit of time and then keeps hitting deliveries in the gap. To think of leaving him out from the ODI side will be an absolute blunder by the team. I don’t think Rahane’s place is in doubt. He is a bit like Rahul Dravid. When Dravid came in, he struggled with his run-rate. He got a role and that’s what the team management needs to do with Rahane,” Ganguly told India Today.
Meanwhile, the speculations regarding Rahane’s place in the playing eleven was put to rest by India’s head coach Anil Kumble after the first ODI.
“At the moment he fits at the top of the order and that’s something that we will persist with. It does give us an option once Dhawan and Rahul are fit, but we will probably look at that after the Test series against England. but in this ODI series, Rahane is definitely going to open the batting and then, later on, looking at the Champions Trophy, we will how the order shapes up then,” Kumble had opined.
With the regular openers currently out of the team, Rahane should make the most of the opportunity in order to become a regular in the playing eleven.