Drop struggling Rahane for second Test, says ex-NZ skipper Vettori

Former New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori says India cricketer Ajinkya Rahane should be dropped for the second Test in Mumbai from December 3 so that he gets time to overcome his lean patch which has continued for too longIn the ongoing Test against New Zealand at Green Park here standin skipper Rahane has scores of 35 and 4 respectively prompting questions about his form of lateThe former Black Caps spinner said that while Rahane didnrsquot look tentative when batting he was still getting out cheaply which would weigh on his mind sooner or laterTime to rebootldquoHe Rahane looks like he wants to be aggressive he doesnrsquot feel tentative while he is batting But still he is getting out and ostensibly that starts to weigh on a batsmanrsquos mind I think being dropped and have the ability to come back can then reset a lot of things for someone particularly as a batsmanrdquo Vettori opinedDaniel VettorildquoAs you go into a Test match with pressure on your shoulders then it can weigh on your mind So in a lot of ways if they selectors leave him out of the next Test I donrsquot think it is a death knell for his career I think it is just a one Test match droppinghellipbecause it just resets everything gives him a chance to go back and do a little bit of workrdquo said VettoriRahane has come into this series with some pressure around his performance and he along with another senior batter Cheteshwar Pujara havenrsquot done their prospects any good with their performance in Green ParkFormer India player Wasim Jaffer was even more critical of the performance of the two batters saying that itrsquos always the bowler who has to sit out if a batter doesnrsquot perform ldquoI think he Rahane would be more upset with the start that he got in the first innings and didnrsquot convert it into a big one because second innings anytime when you bat on a Day 4 or Day 5 pitch it is going to be hard work So you can understand that the second innings is always going to be a strugglerdquo said Jaffer ldquoBut the first innings when the conditions are good for batting thatrsquos where I think he would be upset that he didnrsquot convert it into a big score So itrsquos going to be big question when Virat Kohli comes in for the second Test in Mumbai who goes out and what kind of combination the Indian team plays because Mayank hasnrsquot got runs Ajinkya hasnrsquot got runs Pujara hasnrsquot got runsrdquo added JafferThe big questionJaffer indicated that itrsquos wrong to bench a bowler when a batter is responsible for not putting enough runs on the board ldquoItrsquos form of Pujara and Rahane going to be a big question mark going into the next Test I think in India when the batsman is out of form the bowler sits out So you might see four bowlers playing at Wankhede StadiumrdquoJaffer said that the selectors had been presented with a very tricky situation where they might have to drop the standin skipper for the second Test ldquoItrsquos a tricky question because somebody who is captain in the first Test you will think twice before dropping him for the second Test Irsquoll probably think about opening with Wriddhiman Saha and if I have to drop Mayank Agarwal then that is the one option I might go withrdquo said JafferThis 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