Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra has stated that vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane looked fidgety in the middle in the first innings of the ongoing first Test match against England.
Rahane looked unsettled and took a risky single to get off the mark. In fact, Rahane could have been run-out had the ball hit the stumps.
Rahane once again tried to go for a quick single but KL Rahul was quick to decline it. However, the Indian vice-captain was well down the middle and could not get back into his crease as Jonny Bairstow hit the bullseye. In fact, Rahane hasn’t been consistent in the recent past for the Indian team after scoring a fine hundred in the MCG Test against Australia.
Rahane has all the experience under his belt but has not been able to deliver the goods consistently for the team.
Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube Channel, “Ajinkya Rahane is the vice-captain of the Indian Test team. He has a lot of experience in the format. So the expectations from him were to score runs. But he just looked fidgety out in the middle. He could have got run out early as he looked to get off the mark with a risky single. Luckily, Rahane got some extra runs with overthrows.”
In fact, Chopra feels Rahul had not called for the run and Rahane took unnecessary risk for the single. The conditions were overcast and India had already lost three quick wickets and thus it was a horribly way of losing a wicket for the Indian team.
“Looking at Rahane’s eventual run out, I don’t feel KL Rahul had called for a run. He never went even halfway but Rahane, at the other end, had already taken off. There was never a run in it. Had the two batsmen tried for a single, there was a run out possibility at both ends.”
“Rahane eventually tried to scamper back but the direct hit caught him well short. Even if it wasn’t a direct hit, there was a fielder waiting near the stumps to run Rahane out. The needless dismissal left India stuttering. They had already lost Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara cheaply.”
India were 125-4 before rain forced early stumps on Day second of the first Test match. The onus will now be on KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant to take India past England’s score of 183 runs.
