Ajit Agarkar amused by the decision to make Ajinkya Rahane captain
Former Indian bowler, Ajit Agarkar, expressed his astonishment, after Indian selectors named Ajinkya Rahane as the captain for the Zimbabwe tour, which starts on the 10th of July. The news of Rahane being selected as captain has come as surprise because he lost his spot in the playing XI in the ODI team after Dhoni stated that there were aspects in his batting that he needed to work on.
Agarkar while talking to ESPNcricinfo, seemed amused after Rahane was named the captain. He was dropped out of the squad for the last two ODIs in the recently concluded Bangladesh series because he was “not good enough to rotate strike”.
Former Indian player said that there is a lot of pride and honour attached to being named the captain of the country and when one gets its easily, it loses its importance. He is also of the opinion that the role of the Indian captain comes too easy these days.
He added saying that he wasn’t quite happy with the selectors dropping Rahane and is glad that he will play all the games in the upcoming tour.
The Mumbaikar backed Rahane and said, “He is a calm character, although he has not had a lot of experience as a captain, now he has a great opportunity to show what he can do tactically. We would have to wait and see how he reacts to this role.”
Rahane has not had much experience as a captain and has led the Mumbai side once in a T20 match in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and once in an ODI in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, in the domestic circuit.
He also said that Zimbabwe would not be the easiest team to beat after India has made “wholesome changes”.
The second-string squad is being led by Ajinkya Rahane after the big-guns are rested for the tour.