IND vs NZ, 2nd Test: Will Ajinkya Rahane Get to Play his First Test at His Home Ground Wankhede Stadium?

Ajinkya Rahane’s Test career, that has lasted eight and a half years, is at the crossroads. After a long period of success as a middle order batter, he will not be a happy man looking at the numbers he has thrown up in the twenty-one innings from 12 Test matches he has played against Australia, England and New Zealand this calendar year.

Clearly the doughty right-hander, raised in the tough environs of Mumbai cricket has hit a rough patch that can make the national selectors contemplate and look at options for the second Test against New Zealand to be played at the Wankhede Stadium from the coming Friday.

Rahane has led India in six Test matches, won four, drawn two and has been the deputy to Virat Kohli for a reasonable period of time. How the captain, which will be Kohli for the Mumbai Test, and the coach, Rahul Dravid, deal with the tricky situation will be an interesting event. Dravid is hopeful that Rahane would come good and has said some good words about him at the conclusion of the first Test against New Zealand at Kanpur.

Well into his 34th year, Rahane has shown signs of losing control of himself as a batter. He has not gone beyond single digit scores eight times this year. His best scores have been 37 at Brisbane, 67 against England at the Chepauk, 49 against New Zealand in the World Test Championship at Southampton, 61 against England at Lord’s and 35 against New Zealand in the recently concluded first Test at the Green Park, Kanpur. These scores give him an impressive average of 49 plus, but his overall average for the year so far is 19.57 and that’s what could hamper his chances of the national selectors keeping faith on him.

For all the negative news surrounding his inability to get going in the red-ball he has been playing, Rahane had warmed the cockles of many a heart with a splendid 112 in the first innings of the Melbourne Test soon after being skittled out for 36 in the second innings of the first Test at Adelaide last December.

In fact, Rahane as captain won encomiums from the experts, but inconsistency with the bat has followed him after his brilliant work at Melbourne.

Rahane has played 79 Tests, scored 4795 runs with twelve centuries and 24 half centuries and for an average a fraction lower than 40. He has shown the steely resolve batting at No.5, but after being a part and parcel of India’s middle order from 2013, he is struggling for find ways to stroke the ball fluently and bring substance to the middle order. With Kohli, K. L. Rahul and Rohit Sharma to be part of the three-Test series in South Africa and the following Test series at home against Sri Lanka, there is every likelihood of the selectors seriously looking at the basket for middle order options. They already have one now in Shreyas Iyer after his fine debut at Kanpur; the Mumbai batter scored a century and a half century.

Milind Rege, who has been part of Mumbai cricket for half century as a player, captain, administrator and selector, has closely watched the different facets of Rahane’s batting. “I think he has gone into a completely defensive mind set now. Because one is not able to score runs, one gets into the groove of not playing freely. In cricket, if you bat for one hour, you have to score runs. You have to put runs on the board. Every time he goes to bat, he is reading the length all wrong. Most of the time he is bowled, leg before or caught at the wicket or at slips. What does this mean ? Your reading of the length is wrong. And this happens because you are in a defensive mind set. The mind set should be to attack first. It’s a vicious circle; he is in a defensive mind set because he is not scoring runs. He is averaging under 20 in 21 Test matches this year. It’s time they give him a break so that he can play a lot of domestic cricket. His feet are not moving now. He is not shortening the length of the ball at all. Either you go forward or back.”

Former India stumper and coach of Madhya Pradesh now, Chandrakant Pandit has watched Rahane’s career in his nascent years and thereafter. He said: “Like every batsman, Rahane must be keen to get runs. Their reputation is at stake. He has been struggling which leads to anxiety. That, I believe is the reason one finds Rahane not able to get runs. We have seen Rahane grow as a cricketer playing good knocks in international cricket. But the limitations one has gets exposed when the career extends to a longer period of time. When a player is going through a lean patch, he doesn’t have anything more to offer. He is finding it difficult to overcome the present circumstances. And when a player gets affected on the mental aspect, it is even more difficult. Rahul Dravid is the new Head Coach. Maybe he will be able to bring Rahane’s confidence back.’’

Pandit also said that Rahane has to take a call. “We have seen Rahane playing well and scoring good runs. And we have also seen his form in the recent past. Rahane should take a call that would be wise for him. His mind will tell him that, the decision he has to take. It’s up to him, whether to take a break, score runs in the domestic cricket and come back.’’

While Kohli and the previous coach, Ravi Shastri encouraged Rahane right through, appreciating the good and stoical knocks he played, Dravid – who has seen Rahane closely while being part of the IPL team Rajasthan Royals — may look at Rahane for a few more months before giving his opinion. Rahane has not played a Test at his home ground which is the Wankhede at Chyrchgate. It’s more likely that Kohli and Dravid will give him that honour.