Former Indian batter Ajinkya Rahane reckons the selectors and team management need to respect senior players in the Test team. Rahane, who recently announced his retirement from all formats of the game, said he fears for the future of Indian cricket in the red-ball version.
Senior players like Ravichandran Ashwin, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, and Ajinkya Rahane have retired from the multi-day format in the last two years. Furthermore, Mohammed Shami hasn’t been getting his chances in the national team despite consistent performances in the domestic circuit.
Ajinkya Rahane said on the Overlap Cricket YouTube Channel, “Test cricket fans are proper cricket lovers. New players have come in over the last two years in Tests. I still feel Test cricket needs seven to eight senior cricketers and two to three younger players. But what we are seeing now is that all the players are actually new.”
“There are hardly any senior players left. Test cricket needs them. You need to respect the senior players. I fear for the future of Test cricket. Especially the Indian team; all the senior players going at once has been the issue.”
Rahane rated the MCG century against Australia on the 2020-21 tour as the best moment of his career. The stand-in Indian skipper scored a match-winning knock of 112 runs off 223 balls as he batted at the top of his game.
“It was the top moment of my career, along with the century at Lord’s in 2014. When the match was going on, it was typical Australians. They were sledging all the time. Without Virat Kohli and Shami injured, they thought they were all over us. I tried very hard to be in the moment, though it was very tough. But when I got the hundred, everyone came up to me and acknowledged it.”
“I didn’t respond at all to their sledging. I remember the first session, they went hard at me. It was typical Australians; they like to target the captains of the opposition teams. Once the captain crumbles, they know the team will crumble under pressure. They tried very hard, but I had my methods, and it was my fourth or fifth tour of Australia.”
Rahane led India to a historic Test series win against Australia on the 2020-21 tour.
