"You should get a chance in India as well" - Virender Sehwag wants Ajinkya Rahane to be persisted with
Virender Sehwag believes Ajinkya Rahane should be given another chance in home conditions before being dropped from India's Test side.
Rahane had a horrendous Test tour of England. The Indian vice-captain scored just 109 runs at a lowly average of 15.57 in the four Tests against the hosts.
While reviewing the India-England series on Sony Sports, Virender Sehwag opined that Ajinkya Rahane deserves an opportunity in familiar home conditions. He explained:
"I feel when your overseas tour goes bad, you should get a chance in India as well because this comes once in four years but you will play a series in India every year. If the series goes bad in India, then I will understand that the form which was bad overseas is there here as well, then he deserves it now."
The former India opener highlighted that even the best players can go through a barren run. Sehwag elaborated:
"I have seen many great players who have not done anything for 8 or 9 Tests, not even a fifty and they were still persisted with and the result was they performed going ahead, scored 1200-1500 runs in a year in Test cricket."
Sehwag signed off by reiterating that the Indian selectors should give Ajinkya Rahane a run at home before bidding him goodbye. He observed:
"Everyone goes through a bad phase. The question is how you behave with your player in a bad phase, whether you back him or leave him. According to me, Ajinkya Rahane should get a chance when the next series happens in India. If he doesn't perform there, you can say - thank you very much for your contribution."
The Test series against England was not a one-off failure for Ajinkya Rahane. The Mumbaikar has scored 2547 runs at a below-par average of 33.07 in his last 49 Tests.
Rahane has not covered himself in glory in home Test matches as well, as is suggested by his overall average of 36.57 on the usually batting-friendly Indian tracks.
"There is no problem in Ajinkya Rahane's game" - Ajay Jadeja
Ajay Jadeja concurred with Virender Sehwag that Ajinkya Rahane should be given more chances. He reasoned:
"There is no problem in Ajinkya Rahane's game, it is in his thinking and it takes a couple of minutes to change that. If someone was pushing from behind, it would have been a different thing. I don't recollect any kid coming up who should not be stopped."
The Indian team has Hanuma Vihari, who played a match-saving knock at Sydney, waiting in the wings. With KL Rahul having almost cemented his spot as an opener, Shubman Gill could also be tried in the middle order.