Rahane’s roller coaster
Find the inner strength
With Virat Kohli firmly in charge of the Indian team, the second in command never got the spotlight. But Ajinkya Rahane was pushed to the helm and the team lost some of its fans after one of India’s most embarrassing outings, in Adelaide, at a time when his own career seemed to be at a crossroads.
Setbacks phase
Once touted as an all-format player and India’s best foreign hitter, it hasn’t been easy for Rahane since the 2015 World Cup, as he was often deemed unsuitable for cue ball formats. He hasn’t played a T20 for India since August 2016 and last appeared in an ODI in February 2018. It’s easy to say that formats shouldn’t be mixed, but the hiccups clearly affected Rahane’s test game as well. The Melbourne hundred was only the second since it last appeared in colorful clothing for India.
What was said
Shortly after the 2015 World Cup, following an ODI loss to Bangladesh, then-white ball captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni put a question mark on Rahane’s suitability for shorter formats.
“It needs rhythm. We have seen that he plays much better when there is rhythm in a wicket. Whenever he has played at No. 4 or no. 5, if the wicket is slow, then fight to rotate the strike freely. Especially when you are just starting your innings, you have some issues. It’s not easy, ”Dhoni had said. A period began where Rahane was in and out of the side on a regular basis. When Kohli took the reins, he seemed more receptive to the qualities that Rahane brought to the table.
“Jinx (Rahane) is a first-class player. He had said before that Ajinkya would be considered a third starter, but that situation may change because he has hit No. 4 in a World Cup before, ”Kohli said during the 2018 tour of South Africa. But someone forgot to convey the captain’s opinion to the selectors, as that was the last time Rahane was seen in an ODI or T20I. And when India was imploding in the 2019 World Cup semi-final against New Zealand, many thought he was the man to stabilize the ship.
Ajinkya Rahane was awarded the Man of the Match award for his 112-run hit at MCG. (AP)
What did Rahane say?
“In fact, I was thinking I’ll be there in the World Cup hitting No. 4. My goal, my goal, is to get back to the ODI team, to do well in white ball cricket, which I have a lot of confidence in. Especially when you were playing county cricket when the World Cup was being held … as a player, everyone wants to be a part of the World Cup team, especially when you know that you have worked very hard, your record in the past was really good “, said. long after the snub. “At that point, I felt like I should be there at number 4.”
“If you look at my record before I got down on ODI, it was actually good. People obviously talk about strike rates, people talk about averages; In the two years before they dropped me, my record was really good at 50-overs cricket, ”he added.
After Melbourne
Rahane may have had a dubious period with the bat in international cricket, but his tone left head coach Ravi Shastri impressed.
“Discipline, you know, on such a big stage … When he (Rahane) came out to bat, we were 2 down for 60, and then to hit six hours, probably the hardest day to hit, because it was all cloudy. day and hit for six hours, incredible concentration. “I thought his tickets were the turning point,” Shastri said.
Ravichandran Ashwin, a secondary spinner, credited Rahane with leading the team into a situation where few gave them a chance. “Jinks’s calm in the locker room really gave us that stability to come out and express ourselves in this game,” he said.
The compliments also came from across the hall. “Well deserved, it’s a sensational 100 Test Match under a lot of pressure as captain after what happened in Adelaide,” former Australian captain Ricky Ponting, Rahane’s head coach at the IPL Delhi Capitals franchise, told 7Cricket.
Ashwin finds turn, turn
R Ashwin has not played white ball cricket for India since July 2017. (AP)
Silencing the skeptics
“When your back is against the wall, lean back and enjoy the support of the wall !!” Ashwin tweeted after the win. He could refer to the Indian team that rebounded from 36/9 in Adelaide, as well as himself making critics eat a humble pie. Ashwin was considered by some to be a bowler who flourished only on useful pitches at home, but Adelaide and Melbourne should bury that theory forever.
Setbacks
Ashwin hasn’t played white ball cricket for India since July 2017, likely a reaction to India going to Pakistan in that year’s Champions Trophy final. With only evidence to wait, Ashwin has often been a victim of perception, and he’s seemingly never far from the ax, as Sunil Gavaskar perceives.
“For too long Ashwin has suffered not because of his bowling ability, which only rude people will have doubts about, but because of his frankness and speaking his mind in meetings where most others just nod even if they disagree “Gavaskar wrote on Sportstar after the Adelaide test. “Any other country would welcome a bowler who has more than 350 proving grounds and not forgetting four centuries of test matches as well. However, if Ashwin doesn’t take a lot of ground in one game, he’s invariably out of the game for the next. “
What was said
Ashwin got off to a splendid start in 2018, both in England and Australia, before his body betrayed him. The injury meant he was half the bowler for the remainder of the series in England, while not playing Down Under after the Adelaide test. Another spinner, Harbhajan Singh was scathing in his criticism after the Southampton Test, where Moeen Ali led England to victory on a useful surface while Ashwin struggled. “India lost the match where Moeen Ali pitched better than R. Ashwin. That he (Ashwin) cannot take land is the reason why we are 1-3 behind in the series, ”Harbhajan told India Today.
Ashwin’s groin injury didn’t elicit much sympathy, either. “I really don’t know how bad Ashwin’s injury was. If it was serious, then the team management should have known. And if he was really fit then he failed to bowl as expected of him, ”Harbhajan said.
And a few months later, head coach Shastri had anointed Chinese bowler Kuldeep Yadav as India’s number one overseas player, after excelling in a test in Australia, in Ashwin’s absence. “He (Yadav) plays test cricket overseas and gets five wickets, making him our main spinner overseas. Go ahead, if we have to play roulette, he’s the one we’ll choose, ”Shastri told Cricbuzz. Referring to Ashwin’s dubious fitness record in 2018, he said: “There is a time for everyone. But now Kuldeep is our first spinner abroad. Even in test cricket, it will be the age of the wrist twist, especially in test cricket abroad. “
No one was more frustrated with these setbacks than Ashwin himself. “If I could, I would have taken out my soul and killed this body,” he told Cricbuzz about that phase.
The return
Ashwin meticulously prepared for the current tour of Australia, taking into account both the conditions and the batters of the opposition. The way he toasted Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne is amazing.
Even the No. 1 test hitter acknowledged that Ashwin has had the wood on him this series. “I probably haven’t played Ashwin as well as I would have liked. I probably would have liked to have put him under a little more pressure, “Smith told SEN Radio. “In a way I’ve let him dictate the terms and that’s something I’ve probably never let any spinner do in my career.”
Being relaxed definitely helped Ashwin perform at his best, with confirmation coming from within the family. “I have seen / talked to Ashwin after every event he has played and after many victories. But I have never seen him so happy, satisfied and light (can I say?) With a smile in his eyes in almost 10 years, ”his wife Prithi tweeted.
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