Should India continue with Rahane or drop him from the team?

India vs England: 2021 Test Series

India lost the 3rd test to England by a huge margin of an innings and 76 runs. While analyzing the defeat on Cricbuzz in a chat between Micheal Vaughan and Harsha Bhogle, Bhogle pointed out how Indian batsmen keep losing their wicket in the same way. If the images of their dismissals were put together, one would realize the drastic similarity among them. Micheal Vaughan commented on this saying, “It’s like a DVD playing. It’s all the same.”

The former England captain pointed out Rahane saying that he is an issue with the team right now. When a particular batsman keeps losing his wicket the same way, you got to make a change. Vaughan elaborated the point saying, “England made changes when they were not performing well. They dropped Sibley, brought in Malan. India needs to make a change too.”

Harsha defended Rahane saying, “Everybody is very fond of Ajinkya Rahane. He embodies all that you want in a player. He’s very tough, he’s a fabulous team player, he is willing to take the chance for the team but eventually, we are all judged by the numbers and the performances we generate.” The 60-year-old also stated,”With Ajinkya, whenever he is out of form, the question arises whether there’s any problem here. But then Rahane ends up playing an innings which shows his class. He did that in Melbourne, again there were few poor innings then he got a 61 here in Lord’s.”

Bhogle then asked the big question,

“How do you handle a player who you know is capable of playing a match-winning inning, but it’s not coming often enough. Should you give him two more matches to prove himself or drop him to let him figure out what is he doing wrong?

Vaughan commented on this saying, “Well, what I know is England would like to see Rahane again. Just like India would like to see Sibley again.” Opposition teams like it when the out-of-form players are given a chance. Since they are easier to get out or tackle their bowling.

What’s obvious from this discussion is that Rahane needs to play consistently. The odd innings that he plays in between are fabulous but not enough to excuse him from the fact that he lacks runs in most other innings. Rahane is admired by the whole nation due to his team attitude. Also, he had lead India to their historic win over Australia in Gabba. But the time has come where he must be asked to deliver performances consistently.

Let’s have a look at the stats of Rahane.