Ajinkya Rahane stereotyped as better suited to Tests, were dearly missed. (Source: AP) Ajinkya Rahane stereotyped as better suited to Tests, were dearly missed. (Source: AP)
At 29/7, India were wilting under the precision and relentless accuracy of Suranga Lakmal & Co., and without MS Dhoni’s solo act, they would have plummeted to their lowest total in ODIs. In the end, 112 would prove to be grossly inadequate in the cooler climes of Dharamsala. India’s capitulation in the first ODI against Sri Lanka speaks volumes about their batsmen’s inability to counter quality swing and seam bowling. A glance at their batting line-up suggests inexperience and a tinge of fragility in the middle order, something the Lankans exploited to the hilt on Sunday.
Barring the openers (Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan) and Dhoni in the middle order, there’s hardly any experience in this playing line-up. Dinesh Karthik and Manish Pandey have been around for some time, but they have not had a sustained run in this format, while Shreyas Iyer is a relative greenhorn, having featured in only three T20s before coming to Dharamsala. After India’s seven-wicket loss in his first ODI as captain, Rohit Sharma said that playing in such conditions was an “eye-opener” for his team.
He also admitted the team missed the skill and technique of Ajinkya Rahane on such tracks. “I think we made it clear in Sri Lanka that he is an opening batsman and we don’t want to keep changing his batting slot. It plays on anyone’s mind, not just his, if one’s batting order is kept on changing. We have identified him as an opening batsman and that’s the only reason he had to sit out. Having said that, we understand the runs he scored in the past few series.”
Rahane’s omission from Dharamsala is baffling, to say the least. True, the Mumbaikar was not at his fluent best in the recent Test series against Sri Lanka, but he has, on several instances in the past, shown the requisite skill and temperament to score in conditions not overtly in favour of batting. In hindsight, the team management would have done well to have Rahane at the No.3 slot, instead of handing Iyer his ODI debut. If Rahane had stuck around with Dhoni, India could well have made a match of it.
Rigid slots
The team management has in the past made it clear that Rahane would be used in the shorter formats only as an opener, as this is the spot where he has found considerable success. Even in the ODIs against Australia a few months ago, Rahane came in place of Dhawan and scored four half-centuries. In fact, he was the second highest run-getter for his team, only behind his opening partner Rohit. However, after all the runs he scored in the ODIs, Rahane would get dropped for the subsequent T20s, paving the way for Dhawan’s comeback.
Captain Virat Kohli put things in perspective ahead of the ODI series against New Zealand, when he said: “We do not want to confuse him (Rahane) too much making him play in the middle order because you need to find your game in ODI cricket, you need to understand how to go about things and he has always been very solid at the top of the order because of his technique. And he likes playing there as well; it gives him freedom to go after the bowlers a bit.”
If the team management is adamant on using Rahane only as an opener, why was he picked for this series in the first place? The 28-year-old has had a subdued run in Test cricket in recent times, and if the selectors had released him from the squad, he could have played for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy quarter-final against Karnataka. This would have at least ensured that he got some match practice in long-form cricket ahead of the tour to South Africa. Clearly, warming the bench and carrying drinks is not going to do him any good.
Rahane is not the only one to have suffered due to the frequent churn in the limited overs squad. KL Rahul, too, has not got a sustained run due to the constant flip-flop by the team management. The Karnataka batsman was selected for the ODIs against Sri Lanka in August this year, when chief selector MSK Prasad said he would bat at No.4. However, after just three failures, Rahul was dropped from the series against New Zealand. When Kohli was asked about his omission, the Indian captain said the team management saw Rahul only as an opener.
The change in narrative would have caught many by surprise, not just Rahul. In the last 18 months, India’s Test opener has featured in just 10 ODIs, indicating the limited opportunities he has got in this format. Rahul getting the axe for the Sri Lanka limited overs series was a foregone conclusion. Instead of benching him for the third Test in Delhi, the team management could have released him for Ranji Trophy quarter-final. Rahul is scheduled to return to the Ranji Trophy team in a week’s time when Karnataka face Vidharbha. However, the constant chopping and changing has not helped two of India’s Test match mainstays.
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