Ajinkya Rahane bats with grit but fails to get big score again

Though India vicecaptain Ajinkya Rahane has emerged as a strong contender for captaincy after leading India to wins in two out of three Tests in Australia a few months ago his batting has become a cause of concern for the Indian teamThe Indian teams No5 batsman has been below par with the bat averaging 2254 in 11 innings of seven Test matches that he has played this calendar year The last time he scored a Test century was back in the second Test against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in December 2020 It was an innings that helped India script a revival in Australia following the humiliation in the first Test at AdelaideRahane was soon talked about as a serious contender to replace Virat Kohli But while his stock as leadership material grew his outings at the remained unproductive Some of his innings have been fighting on difficult surfaces but small in terms of runs and therefore overshadowed by some brilliant knocks by Rishabh Pant and other youngsters over the past few monthsIn the last 11 innings Rahane has scored just one halfcentury a 67 against England on a difficult Chennai pitch in the second Test in FebruarySunday should have seen him get to his second halfcentury a very important one But he threw it away when he was just one run short of itHaving mistimed a short ball from Neil Wagner which fell in the vacant midwicket area Rahane went for a pull again on the very next delivery from the leftarm seamer and scooped a catch to squarelegThis wasnt the first time he had fallen to a short delivery from Wagner On the tour of New Zealand in early 2020 he had chopped a short ball onto his stumps as he tried to work the ball to fine leg in the second Test in ChristchurchNo wonder former India batsman VVS Laxman wasnt impressedThis is something that has become a pattern with Rahanes batting It was the same game plan that New Zealand used against him in Christchurch This is something he requires to understand said Laxman who batted at No5 a position where Rahane batsAnother former India batsman Sanjay Manjrekar has blamed Rahanes state of mind for the struggles although he praised the level of application he showed in the ongoing TestThe thing about Rahane is that there is not one particular mode of dismissal for him in the last few years when he has got low scores So I have always associated his dismissals and low scores with his state of mind Manjrekar told espncricinfocomTo bring home Manjrekars point Rahane has been dismissed five times by spinners and six times by pacers since the beginning of this year He has been bowled caught in the slips and at square leg against pacers He has been bowled caught at short leg and at cover against spinnersAlso ReadWhen God of the Off Side ruled at Lords A silver jubilee for Sourav GangulyThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever