Four years ago, speaking of Ajinkya Rahane, Rahul Dravid had told The Cricket Monthly that after having successfully completed a cycle of world tour, Rahane must be experiencing the beautiful feeling of belonging to the highest level.
“For me, after playing a year of international cricket, I knew I could do it,” Dravid said. “I knew it. It took me a year. I played [Curtley] Ambrosio. I played [Allan] Donald. I played [Courtney] Walsh. I have a good feeling. I have a hundred a day. I went on tour. I approached tours differently. I just felt, ‘I actually belong here.’ Then you start to think differently. ‘Now I want to do more for the team. Now I want to become a match winner. Now I want to do it when it’s difficult. ‘
“Sometimes you need a little success. Something just clicks. That’s when you know, ‘Boss, I belong here.’ [Rahane] he has developed his attacking game. Now he knows deep down that, ‘Boss, if I work hard, if I practice, I can be successful at this level.’ It is a very good feeling to have. It takes a while to arrive, but when it arrives you know it. You know, ‘Boss, I belong here.’
However, you wonder if that feeling is permanent or if it can go away with time.
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In many ways, Rahane, the hitter, has been the hardest to identify among the pool of hitting talents that has emerged from India since Sachin Tendulkar’s group retirements. Cheteshwar Pujara is the absolute defensive bulwark; Virat Kohli, the genius of all formats; and Rohit Sharma, the colossus of limited limitations who you try to push the Trials at every chance you get. But what is Rahane? Difficult to put on a stand.
When he was racking up national cricket careers, Rahane somehow failed to debut, traveling with the team 13 times before finally being handed the cap against Australia in Delhi in 2013. After a nervous debut, Rahane proved that he could dominate the attacks of World class, whether it’s South Africa at Kingsmead, Australia at MCG or England at Lord’s. Often run over by national bowlers, in casual conversations, as someone who did not appear on the big occasion, Rahane became India’s favorite batsman in a stretch of 11 consecutive events in South Africa, England and Australia.
In the first 13 test series he played, Rahane averaged less than 29.66 in just one. In nine of them, he averaged more than 50. This was enough for him to become the second name on the Indian team charts (R Ashwin would not be chosen for all Away Trials) and thus the vice-captain. Then came a series of terror at home against Sri Lanka in late 2017 in which he averaged 3.4, which was considered reason enough for India to drop Rahane for the South African tour that followed in early 2018, despite Rahane he was the rare Indian hitter who averaged better away than at home and played rhythm better than spin.
All this while his limited overs cricket confused him. The fact that the selectors named him captain when MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli rested for the short Zimbabwe tour in 2015 showed that they had identified a future captain, but again Dhoni would find, not unfairly, that Rahane was a rather limited hitter and limited: dashing against the new ball but slow once the field was extended. The next management rated him higher in limited overs cricket than in Tests, eliminating him in the longest format in South Africa, but during the ODIs they anointed him No. 4 in India for a World Cup that was less than two years away. . A series later, he was once again the no-place test specialist in the ODIs.
Since then, Rahane has shown himself to be a hitter who is not at peace with his game. It will be simplistic, and perhaps unfair, to blame a pick call – if you’re good enough, you should come back. It’s not that Rahane hasn’t returned, and to be fair to them, the team’s leadership has shown more faith in him since that South African tour, it’s just that you don’t feel like he’s the same hitter. In 23 tests since then, he has scored just two centuries, averaging less than 40 and his hit rate has been 45. Before that, he was nine centuries in 43 tests, he used to average 44 and hit 53 runs per 100. balls.
One of the reasons experts believe Rahane has reached this inertia is that he hopes to get away with a couple of initial risks before settling in. In this phase, you have not been so lucky with these outings or perhaps you have lost your attack instinct. a tap, which can be the difference between a four and a nick, or maybe the attacks have figured it out better.
It’s an observation that’s backed by numbers: Based on ESPNcricinfo’s records of whether a hitter was in control of how he reacted to a delivery, in the past three years, no Indian hitter has hit more uncontrolled limits in the first 30 balls of a game. entrance than Rahane. And yet his overall control numbers at the beginning of an inning are better than even Kohli, but his hit rate is lower. Point out a possible pattern of defense, defense, defense, and then the need for a four.
Even when he starts out today, Rahane doesn’t keep up with the efficient pace he used to have before. He used to average 86 in innings he crossed 20 before that South African series in 2018, but since then the number has dropped to 61, behind Kohli, Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw and Rohit.
The problem with Rahane will be the double responsibility of leading, during more than one test for the first time in his career, a diminished side that could still be in shock and turn a stalled personal career around. And as is often the case with a substitute, you will have a less than ideal XI at your disposal.
That young man mistaken by many as easy prey, but who had this urge to dominate the best in the world, Dale Steyn in Durban, James Anderson at Lord’s and Johnson at MCG, has been lost at some point in his career. make it your thing. Not that Rahane has been a drag, but those Laxman-style VVS classics, doomed as it should be compared, with Laxman also being No. 5, are gone. Arguably the last of them was the pocket version of the epic Dravid-Laxman Eden Gardens booth, which arrived in Bangalore in a 118-race winning partnership with Pujara to stop what seemed like a marauding Australian side, in early 2017.
Under normal circumstances, this series would have been extremely important for Rahane in keeping question marks at bay in the series at home, against England in February, where his record is not very good. However, it is at this time that Rahane will be the captain of India for more than one test for the first time. It can’t be ideal for him to come under his belt with the possible exit of the game in Adelaide, and increased scrutiny on his shooting and defensive technique during the 36 in the second inning. And as is often the case with a substitute, he will have a less than ideal XI at his disposal in the absence of the regulation captain plus the forced loss of Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami to compound his problems.
Rahane has been captain of India twice before in Tests. In the first one, in a decisive series decider against Australia in Dharamsala in 2017, he brought out all the positive moves, from selection to pin changes, field locations and attack tackles to kill a potentially tricky chase. , so its tiny behavior. should not be a problem. The problem will be the dual responsibility of leading a diminished side that may still be in shock, and of turning a stagnant personal career around.
Melbourne around Christmas is not a good time to visit – it is a great time of joy for families, but just stay within those families. If you don’t have your family there, you want to go out; but there is no one outside. Streets of the CBD can seem spooky without people. You know that it is a special moment for the country, but somehow you are not part of it. It is only the next morning that tens of thousands of joyful people enter the MCG.
It was here on Christmas Day six years ago, when possibly the only cricketers preparing for the Boxing Day tryout are the only ones working, that Rahane was envisioned dominating Johnson. And he duly did it in a brutal round, even as the bowler got under Kohli’s skin at the other end, taking three bad shots in a short span of play. This visualization is almost a manifestation: “If there are positive things in your mind, they will happen,” says Rahane.
But will those visions be so clear and unequivocal this Christmas?
Sidharth Monga is assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo
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