"Not once during his eight-ball innings did Ajinkya Rahane look convincing" - VVS Laxman urges Team India to rest vice-captain
Former Team India batter VVS Laxman was not too impressed with Ajinkya Rahane’s short stay at the crease during the first session on Day 4 of The Oval Test. According to Laxman, Rahane was all at sea during the eight balls he faced in his innings.
The Team India vice-captain’s torrid run with the bat continued as he perished without scoring. He was given out lbw to Chris Woakes as he padded up to the England pacer.
Rahane, however, had a lucky escape as the review showed the ball missing the stumps.
The 33-year-old did not last long though. He tried to hit the same bowler across the line in his next over and was trapped in front of the stumps. This time, Rahane did not take the review and walked back after consulting Virat Kohli.
In an interaction on ESPNCricinfo, Laxman opined that Rahane just doesn’t look in any kind of rhythm and thus it would be better to rest him for the next Test.
"It's time to give Rahane a break. I am not sure of what the future holds for him. He is a quality player and I always believe that quality players come back into the team.
"But, the kind of form and confidence he has shown and the body language when he was out there in the middle… Not once during his eight-ball innings did Ajinkya Rahane look convincing," Laxman stated.
Rahane has featured in all four Tests of the series so far, but only has 109 runs to his name at a poor average of 15.57.
"Vihari may get a chance ahead of Ajinkya Rahane" - Laxman
Although the team management has been solid in its backing of Rahane, according to Laxman the decision to demote him in the batting order is a clear indication of the think-tank losing faith in his abilities.
"Promoting (Ravindra) Jadeja in the second innings, the message is very clear [sic]. At the moment, the team management feels that Ajinkya Rahane is not in great rhythm, he is out of touch and low on confidence," Laxman said.
The former cricketer batted for the inclusion of Hanuma Vihari ahead of Rahane for the final Test of the series.
"You don’t want to go into a Test match with that kind of a mindset, especially in case of a senior batsman. I just feel, come the Old Trafford Test match, there may be a change and (Hanuma) Vihari may get a chance ahead of Ajinkya Rahane."
While Rahane failed to open his account, Kohli (44) again fell after getting a start. Laxman admitted that Kohli's inability to convert his starts will frustrate the Indian skipper more than anyone else.
"The way he was batting, he was looking all set to get that big score, which we were anticipating from Virat Kohli. But again, he got out against the run of play.
"You want players of the caliber of Kohli to convert those starts into big hundreds, which he has done in the past. Don't expect someone of Kohli’s quality to miss out so often after getting to 30s and 40s. This is something that will frustrate Virat Kohli."
Meanwhile, India’s lead crossed 270 in the second session of the fourth day’s play at The Oval, with Shardul Thakur and Rishabh Pant adding some crucial runs.