After scoring a match-winning ton in Melbourne against Australia, last year, vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane has proven to be a curious customer for Team India. Rahane has struggled to get runs on the board – and questions are once again going around on his inconsistent run with the willow.
Rahane was dismissed for scores of 1 and 0 in the first Test against England, which has further intensified the criticism from fans. In the same light, Former India spinner Pragyan Ojha, on being asked about Rahane’s form, said that his inconsistencies have also surprised him.
“That is something which really surprises me. I have played a lot of cricket with him, right from our younger days. Someone of his stature gets a brilliant hundred at the MCG and after that, it looks as if he is finding his form. It is something that even I was taken aback,” Ojha told Sports Today.
“I believe he needs to sort this out because a man of his stature who has done so much for the country, the vice-captain of the Indian team, he has to be consistent. When he plays, it looks like he is a brilliant batsman but at times when he starts getting out, then you feel like he is out of form. So, this is something he needs to address,” he added.
Pragyan Ojha, however, insisted that no one is questioning his place in the Indian team as he absolutely needs to be a part of the playing XI. The 34-year-old added that Rahane and Pujara are the pillars of the Indian batting line-up.
“Nobody is criticising his position in the team or questioning him being the vice-captain or what he has done. But everybody is surprised, the whole Indian team was unsettled after the loss at Adelaide and he goes to MCG as a captain and plays a brilliant knock,” he explained.
“He is absolutely someone the Indian team needs, him and Pujara. I will just extend my conversation to Pujara. When India was playing in Sydney, on the Day 2 evening, we played that session very slow.
“The next morning when we came into bat, the Australians had a plan and they got us out. Had we used those overs, we could have got those runs because when the new ball comes in, we were losing those wickets. That was my criticism, I never doubted Pujara or Rahane, they are the pillars of our batting,” Ojha concluded.