As he prepares for the Trinidad Test starting Thursday, Ajinkya Rahane may be chuckling to himself thinking about selectors’ whims. Kept out of the Test side after a prolonged lean phase, he was almost the forgotten man in Indian cricket, till he played some swashbuckling knocks for Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League.
That somehow convinced the wise men that Rahane was good enough to make a comeback to the Test side, for a World Championship final no less. He was the most prolific Indian batsman against Australia at The Oval, getting close to a hundred in the first innings. So when there was an urge for bloodletting after the debacle, it was Cheteshwar Pujara – the other vulnerable senior in the side – who suffered the axe. Rahane, who has led India with distinction whenever given the chance, was even appointed Rohit Sharma’s deputy for the two-Test series in the West Indies, prompting more than a few eyebrows from people who thought it was a step backwards.
Now with one ordinary shot in Dominica – playing on the rise on a slow wicket and spooning an easy catch to short cover – Rahane finds himself in a tight corner once again, and needs a score at the Queen’s Park Oval in Port of Spain to keep the many suitors to his spot at bay.How can the quality of a player fluctuate so much so soon in the eyes of the selectors? In Rahane’s case, it may not be his quality that is the reason for debate, but the circumstances and the direction that the selection panel wishes to take Indian cricket in the medium term.
They know what Rahane brings to the table with his experience and track record, but he was pretty much a stop-gap option with the likes of KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer unavailable. Yashasvi Jaiswal has already made a blockbuster debut, Shubman Gill is a lock-in for the long term while Ruturaj Gaikwad is already part of the Test squad. All these youngsters are naturally aggressive players – which seems a prerequisite for selection these days – having had stellar IPL seasons in 2023. With ‘transition’ being the name of the game, the process invariably starts with the least risky option when Virat Kohli and skipper Rohit Sharma are also in the same age bracket, and have not been as prolific as they would like in recent times.
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