The more Ajinkya Rahane plays, the worse it'll get for him, must look at first-class cricket again: Zaheer Khan

Zaheer Khan believes Ajinkya Rahane's poor form has come to a head with his duck at The Oval on Sunday and it's high time he was given a break from international cricket.

The former pacer remarked that Ajinkya Rahane is in a virtual swamp, where the more he'll try to break out, the worse it'll get.

In an innings where almost all Indian batters seemed to have gained their touch back, Ajinkya Rahane struggled once again. He played out seven deliveries against a not-so-new ball but didn't look convincing at all.

On the eighth ball, he played down the wrong line on a full-length delivery, missed the flick and was trapped in front by Chris Woakes.

"It's all form based. You'll have to go back, analyze and work hard and then only you can move ahead... It's important to pull such a player out of the pressure zone and give him a chance [to improve]. We say this in Hindi that the more you try to force yourself out of the swamp, the more you get trapped in it.

"At such a moment, other than just technical things, you have then overcome all the mental pressure as well. The more you are in this situation, the more [poor] knocks that'll go beside your name, the worse it will get for you," Zaheer Khan said in a post-Lunch interaction with Cricbuzz.

Chris Woakes works his magic again 💫India have lost half their side after Ajinkya Rahane departs for a duck. #WTC23 | #ENGvIND | https://t.co/zRhnFiKhzZ pic.twitter.com/wqnc0VxfnM

— ICC (@ICC) September 5, 2021

With this duck, Ajinkya Rahane kept his tally to 109 runs in the series, with his average dropping to 15.57 - the least among all the other recognized batters.

Incidentally, he's arguably the player for whom India have the most replacements available in the squad: Hanuma Vihari and Suryakumar Yadav, to name a couple.

Zaheer Khan suggests first-class cricket as a redemption option for Ajinkya Rahane

Zaheer Khan further suggested that Ajinkya Rahane should not shy away from returning to first-class cricket and "trying out new things." He said:

"When you are in a purple patch you should try and play as many games as possible. But, similarly, when you are struggling to gain form, it's imperative to take a few steps back, see everything from a wider lens... if you want to play first-class cricket, do that because the pressure there is relatively less and you can try new things."

A fine 50-run partnership comes up between @RishabhPant17 & @imShard off 80 deliveries.Live - https://t.co/OOZebPnBZU #ENGvIND pic.twitter.com/GiUCMhgAbF

— BCCI (@BCCI) September 5, 2021

Coming to the match in London, Virat Kohli fell shortly after Ajinkya Rahane, leaving India in a tiffy at lunch.

However, Rishabh Pant and Shardul Thakur have put up a brilliant counterattack since and are looking strong to soar the lead past 300.

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