Is this the end of the road for Rahane - the ODI batsman?

Since breaking into the Indian Test team in late 2013, Ajinkya Rahane has shown from time to time his immense value to the team. It is, therefore, understandable when he is one of the first names on the team sheet.The same, however, cannot be said about his place in the ODI side.

While his international debut in the limited overs preceded his first Test appearance, it is in the former that Rahane has struggled to garner a consistent string of scores. Apart from a few knocks such as his 79 against South Africa in the 2015 World Cup, an 87 against the same opponents at the Wankhede; Rahane hasn’t looked his familiar self in the coloured clothing.

For far too long, it seems he hasn’t learnt how to bat in an ODI — a point made rather overtly by the then captain M.S.Dhoni in one of his media interactions; questioning his team-mate’s ability to rotate the strike. Add to this the emergence of KL Rahul and you have a four-way fight for the top two with Dhawan and Rohit Sharma also in the mix.

Considering the fact that India only has the three-match upcoming ODI series against England to finalise its composition for the Champions Trophy, this could be Rahane’s last chance to impress the selectors and the new captain, Virat Kohli.

The following table highlights Rahane’s record so far as a 50-overs batsman:

Matches	Runs	Highest Score	Average	Strike Rate	50/100
72	2236	111	32.88	78.98	16/2

It is visible from the above data that Rahane has nothing more than an average record in 50 overs cricket. Having first made his debut against England in 2011, he has failed to get on in this format, his stingy strike rate of 78.98 being a testimony to the fact. In the modern age of cricket, with bigger bats, smaller boundaries, restrictive rules on field placement, a batsman is expected to strike at close to run-a-ball or more.

Rahane fails to do so conclusively — in only 14 innings out of the 70 that he has played so far in his career has he scored at a strike rate of 90 or above. This sort of batting does put pressure on the team and particularly those players who are padded up to go in next.

A batsman with such a scoring rate is still accommodated in modern one-day cricket teams if he plays the role of a sheet anchor — a role Jonathan Trott played for England not so long ago and a role which Kane Williamson has taken up for New Zealand.

Then again, these two players average close to 50 in comparison to Rahane’s measly average of 32.88, further underlining the difference between them. Thus the Mumbaikar fails on both counts — neither a great strike rate to boast of nor a high enough average to diffuse the criticism about his scoring rate.

His conversion rate is also not that great either – a hundred every 8^th time he crosses the fifty run mark doesn’t reflect well on the credentials of a top notch one day batsman.

Opener’s dilemma

The fight for the opner’s slot is truly on

Over the years, it has been reasonably established that Rahane has been at his best in one-day cricket when he is given a chance to open the innings. While in the beginning of his career he wasn’t able to do justice to his record as a top order batsman for Mumbai in domestic cricket, he finally seemed to have found some form in his second run as an opener since 2014, having scored two hundreds and five fifties as an opener.

Rahane as an opener- From May 2014

Matches	Runs	Highest Score	Average	Strike Rate	50/100
25	1351	111	37.12	78.71	5/2

Normally, this should have settled the issue and Rahane should have become the regular opener for India. Instead, he has been floated up and down the order, opening when the regular ones are injured and moving back down when they are fit.

While his performances have been good as an opener in the recent past, they haven’t been enough to topple the incumbent openers — Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan. His record, therefore, has borne the effect of this constant swapping.

• Rahane has not batted at No.5 in his career

Batting Position	Matches	Runs	Highest Score	Average	Strike Rate	50/100
3	3	123	60	41.00	73.65	2/0
4	21	703	89	37.00	85.21	5/0
6	2	4	4	4.00	57.14	0/0
7	2	2	2	1.00	50.00	0/0

• The above table clearly shows that Rahane has been switched around many times during his career; having played close to one-third of his game has a non-opener, thus, making him uncertain mentally about his role every time he walks to the field.
• When he started scoring runs as an opener beginning from India’s tour of England in 2014, he was pushed down again for the better part of 2015 and even dropped, only to return as an opener in the home season of 2016. Thus, he enters another new season unsure about what his team wants from him.
• While Rahane has tried to secure his position has an opener, it seems difficult to remove Rohit Sharma from that slot; unless he does so of his own will. Considering his penchant for scoring daddy hundreds and doubles as well, it’s not difficult to fathom why.
• It would then appear that there is a straight shoot-out between Dhawan and Rahane, the latter swapping in place of the Delhi left-hander if, and when he performs badly, which again is not as straight-forward as it seems.
• It is due to the emergence of a certain KL Rahul, who has taken all the opportunities presented with open arms — scoring international centuries in all the three formats in 2016. If it were not for some ill-timed injuries, Rahul might have even tipped Dhawan to become the first-choice opener for India considering the rich vein of form he has been in.
• With Virat Kohli secure as a rock at no. 3 for India for years to come, it seems the only place available for Rahane is at number four, where he has a better record and below which he doesn’t have much experience of playing — either in domestic or international cricket.

What can Rahane do (or hope for)?

For starters, two-three hundreds in the next three matches against England, with a double in between, might make his case a little stronger. Or he can hope that Dhawan badly runs out of form or pisses off Kohli by getting him run-out or Rahul gets injured again (Sorry Rahul!), and there you go — Rahane is back again in the top slot!

However, a much more likely case is that Rahane would need to make some telling contributions in whatever role he is given by the team management — whether it is as an opener, at number four or even further below.

For that, the former Rajasthan Royals player doesn’t need to look further than his mentor Rahul Dravid for inspiration, who overcame similar problems early in his limited overs career to become a successful ODI player. If he is able to do so, Rahane might catch the flight to England later this year; otherwise, he too would soon join the likes of Murali Vijay and Chesteshwar Pujara to become India’s test match specialist, having been axed from the T20 side for the series against England.