June 7, 2016
Vignesh Kalyanasundaram
Jinks – That is how Ajinkya Rahane familiarly known as who turned 28 yesterday and is getting ready for the all-important series in Caribbean which starts exactly in a months’ time. Getting into the age group where every great batsman in the history had their peak seasons, Rahane has huge responsibility mounted over his shoulder with not only being the reliable middle order batsman but also the Vice-captain of Indian test team now.
Though Rahane started his test career on a happy note with India winning that series 4-0 against the Aussies in India, the overseas seasons followed weren’t great for him and Team India !! The tours to South Africa and New Zealand can be seen as learning cure for many Indian players but to be fair to the Indian batters - Murali Vijay, Virat Kohli and Rahanae applied themselves relatively well and showed what sound technique can do irrespective of the playing conditions.
Rahane got his credit from Test cricket fans when he scored his 1st century against the Kiwis under the overcast condition of Wellington and helping India to draw that test match. Many consider Pujara to be the next Dravid however during this match I had the gut feel that it is Rahane who is going to carry the legacy of Dravid. Early days for him, still the way he plays with horizontal bat makes me like him more – of course for a batsman coming from Mumbai following the Legends Sunny and Sachin, it isn’t a big deal. One more reason why Jinks brought Dravid’s thought to me is the maiden century of RD was also under difficult conditions. It was against Donald, Pollock, McMillan & Kluesner on a seaming Johannesburg wicket.
Below video is for those who wish to relive that innings of RD J :
It this is the same application Rahane showed against the likes of Boult, Southee, Anderson at Wellington. Needless to mention Rahane’s century at Lords and this not only got his name on Lords Honours Boards but also cemented his place in India’s test squad.
Interestingly, making his debut in Home conditions he has to wait 17 tests before playing again in India. In the interim he played in some tough conditions like RSA, England, Australia, Sri Lanka and the impressive stat is that he got centuries in each country except RSA !!.
Unlike Pujara who struggles a bit when it comes to limited overs format, Rahane has the ability to adapt himself to pick the pace and score some quick runs. But an alarming note would be, the over dosage of T20 shouldn’t affect the way Rahane bats and the class should remain in him to improve his test batting.
Fact of the matter is not too are many worried about his ODI batting despite his 2 centuries because India never had shortage of players to represent limited overs game. It is good quality test players India finding difficult to produce so Rahane should go heights from here and let us wish him Good Luck for his Caribbean tour !!
No comments:
Post a Comment