Ajinkya Rahane: Is he the upcoming vice-captain of India?
Elegant, classy and humble. It requires many words to describe Ajinkya Rahane, the stand-in captain of team India for the Zimbabwe tour. The decision of him leading the team came in as a surprise for everyone including himself. But, he has proved himself worthy for the role by winning the each match of the ODI of the series.
However, he was given the role of captaincy in the absence of many top players. The question arises, whether he has any leadership role in the future? Such scenario may or may not exist depending on the many factors. These are explained as below:
The possibilities after MS Dhoni’s retirement
MS Dhoni’s retirement and Virat Kohli’s promotion as a captain in the ODIs is expected sooner or later which is going to create a void for the position of vice-captaincy. In such a case, selectors have to think over the options like Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Ravichandran Ashwin and Rahane. We can discuss the chances of each player to become a vice captain, as below,
Rohit Sharma:
Rohit will arguably be a very good choice looking at his excellent record of leading Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League(IPL). He helped his team to win the IPL trophy in 2013 and recently in 2015 edition where the team struggled in the first half of the tournament.
He is the only player to score two double centuries in the ODIs including the highest score of 264. If he is such a classy player, what resists him from getting the leadership positions in the Indian team? The spontaneous answer for this will be his inconsistent form which prevents him to lead from the front. He has been given so many chances to prove his abilities which he hasn’t utilised fully. In addition, he has no experience leading the national team which creates a doubt in the selectors’ mind.
Suresh Raina:
Raina had lost the first series as a captain against Zimbabwe which created lot of questions on his leadership qualities. He came back to win the series against West Indies and Bangladesh, but captaincy pressure hampered his form as a batsman. The selectors will definitely think him as the very last option.
R Ashwin:
The only reason behind considering Ashwin's name is his experience and consistency in the performance. Being the senior guy, he can guide the other players in the critical situations.
But, in the absence of Dhoni who has always backed Ashwin can be the setback for the idea of Ashwin being the Vice-captain. Moreover, India has rarely opted a bowler as a captain or a vice-captain.
Ajinkya Rahane's calm head and attitude matters:
The first match itself turned out to be a last ball over thriller for Rahane as a captain and he handled it brilliantly against Zimbabwe. The death overs were handed to the specialist bowlers like Bhuvneshwar Kumar which is a key decision in any close contest.
The critics can blame Rahane being too reserved, but it can be a blessing in disguise. He won’t lose his poise in the pressure situations and can come with good solutions whenever required.
He is a hard working cricketer and understands the value of the opportunities. The recent comments by him showed that he’s not only a good thinker but also a very good skipper.
"Dhoni bhai gave me a feedback and I took it in a positive manner and I have moved on. Bangladesh tour is past for me. My aim is to be more consistent in ODIs as it's all in the mind", Rahane told to media.
As he said, he needs to work on his batting consistency.
Form is the key factor
The selectors have shown faith in Rahane which he has to appreciate and show some consistent performances over the next few months. Rohit Sharma appears to be the top most competitor for him for the second best place in the team. The form and the consistency of each of them will be the deciding factors for the place of Vice-captain.
Last 10 ODI innings
Ajinkya Rahane: 9, 44, 19, 19, 33, 14, 79, 0, 73, 28
Rohit Sharma: 0, 63, 34, 137, 16, 64, 7, 57, 0, 15
The statistics show neither of them are at their best form. Both of them are under severe pressure to perform and cement the place in the team.
However, the selectors showed faith in Ajinkya Rahane to make him captain for the Zimbabwe tour despite the fact that he was dropped for the two matches in the earlier tour against Bangladesh. It indicates that the selectors are considering him as one of the option as a leader in absence of Kohli for tests and later, in ODIs too after retirement of MS Dhoni
At present, no one has been selected as the vice-captain for the upcoming Sri Lankan tour. It seems that the team management has opted for the wait and watch approach which gives more time for a player like Rahane who believes in hard work. Till then fans will expect that he revives his form and his future.