We are talking about it, aren’t we? The disheartening possibility of the rope finally running out for Ajinkya Rahane. Batting coach Vikram Rathour says not yet. But it feels like a matter of time, especially after how Rahane was dismissed on Sunday. His career oscillating between the pipe dream of a course-correcting hundred and the terrifying possibility of being cut short, India’s vice-captain completely missed an incoming delivery on a flat pitch when India were in the ascendancy but not
We are talking about it, aren’t we? The disheartening possibility of the rope finally running out for Ajinkya Rahane. Batting coach Vikram Rathour says not yet. But it feels like a matter of time, especially after how Rahane was dismissed on Sunday. His career oscillating between the pipe dream of a course-correcting hundred and the terrifying possibility of being cut short, India’s vice-captain completely missed an incoming delivery on a flat pitch when India were in the ascendancy but not quite out of the woods. It’s surprising because the last four times Rahane was out to deliveries that seamed away after landing outside off stump. But it also invariably sums up a Test career that never quite peaked despite getting 77 opportunities.
You can bring up his captaincy, of course; a rather slick record of four wins and one draw with the 2020-21 series triumph in Australia--one of India’s greatest wins ever - being the crowning glory. Or the fact that his century at the MCG that series remains the only hundred coming from the trio of Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara and Rahane since November 2019. Or that he averaged more away from home (which finally didn’t matter when he was dropped for two consecutive Tests during the 2018 tour of South Africa right after aggregating 17 runs in five innings against Sri Lanka at home). But if you look at his career as a whole, Rahane never really had that standout series dotted with centuries against quality opposition.
This is where comparisons are bound to creep in, especially in a highly competitive team environment like India’s. Think Kohli and you can’t forget Australia 2014-15 or England 2018. Pujara was nearly indispensable after the 2018-19 tour of Australia where he scored 521 runs against Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon. But Rahane? Only once has he scored two hundreds in the same series, in 2015, against South Africa in the Delhi Test. Overseas, the last time Rahane scored a century against a top Test nation before Melbourne 2020 was at the same venue in 2014. That’s a pretty long rope considering India’s endeavor to create a formidable middle-order after the retirement of Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman.
That brings us to the current series where India have struggled horribly with the bat once their openers have been dismissed. And yet, no one has looked more out of place than Rahane. It’s a lot about optics too. Kohli has this remarkable ability to look convincing even when he isn’t scoring heavily, coming down the pitch aggressively to almost every delivery. And when nothing goes right for Pujara, he leaves deliveries, puts his body on the line and just grinds out spells. Rahane doesn’t have any obvious flaw in technique. He can be slightly orthodox about taking time to settle down but can also rattle the opposition with a flurry of shots. To their satisfaction though, England have been able to keep him largely tied down. Largely, because England would have been 2-0 up had it not been for Rahane’s 61 at Lord’s. That 100-run partnership with Pujara was as unassuming as the men themselves, quietly slipping away after the job’s done before Mohammad Shami, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj weighed in with both bat and ball.
But is one partnership enough in four Tests? If Kohli drives home the intent, Pujara is the undisputed anchor in terms of facing deliveries. Rahane then should have ideally been the enforcer but he has just not converted any of his starts. This is where an average of 24.76 since 2020--with two fifties and one hundred in 27 innings - makes Rahane’s place look more untenable. He has the management’s support despite being demoted at The Oval.
“When you are playing cricket for such a long time you will have phases where you will not get runs. That is the time as a team we need to back them and support them as much as we can. As we saw with Pujara also, him getting more opportunities and he's come back. He has played a couple of very important innings for us. We are hoping that Ajinkya will get back into form and he will still play a major role in the Indian team's batting. I don't think we have arrived at that point that it should become a concern,” said Rathour on Sunday.
Being a Test specialist isn’t easy, considering one has 10-12 opportunities every year. Rahane may be the best captain India will never have on a long-term basis but his leadership skills will have no bearing on his immediate future. Once, he averaged over 50 and was one of the first names on the roster for an overseas Test. Now, he has faced almost three times more deliveries than Shardul Thakur and scored eight less than him for the series. Even Bumrah is one boundary short of Rahane’s series tally of 11. If this continues, India may not be able to look away too long.
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