Satire: 5 reasons why Ajinkya Rahane was dropped from Test side in South Africa

The ongoing Test series between India and South Africa is one of the most anticipated series in 2018 as both the teams are strong enough to challenge each other, and for the neutrals, this is one contest that will be fascinating to watch.

When the first Test got underway, Bhuvneshwar Kumar got India off to a stunning start by reducing the hosts to 12/3 inside the first 30 minutes. But, it wasn't that that created a buzz among the Indian fans.

Vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane was not included in the playing XI for the Test and in his place, his ODI counterpart Rohit Sharma was included, yes, you read that right. India lost the match by 72 runs and Rohit managed to score a combined total of 21 runs in the Test.

Many expected the Indian captain to bring Ajinkya back for the second Test at the expense of Rohit. What happened ahead of the second Test? Rahane remained on the sidelines and adding to that, Bhuvneshwar was dropped from the side because Ishant Sharma was more suited to the conditions on offer.

The skipper, who said Rohit was preferred to Ajinkya because of his current form, dropped Bhuvneshwar in spite of him being the best batsman and bowler for India in the first Test.

So, this is certainly not the reason behind Rahane's axing. Let us take a look at five reasons why Ajinkya was dropped from the Indian Test side for the ongoing South Africa tour.

Disclaimer: This article is a work of fiction and has nothing to do with reality. Please don't take it seriously.

Didn't salute Ravi Shastri in a training session

Ajinkya should learn to do this more often

Rule number four in the Indian cricket team states that if you don't respect your captain's favourite, you won't get a place in the playing XI. It is quite obvious that the Indian captain's favourite is coach Ravi Shastri, especially after seeing how adamant he was about getting the former Indian all-rounder the coach's role.

Now that there are no valid reasons to drop Rahane from the side, one can infer that the right-hander might have forgotten to salute the Indian coach in one of the team's training sessions.

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Maybe the likes of Misbah-ul-Haq or the man above would have had good careers with the Indian team, thanks to this rule.

Better player than the Indian captain in these conditions

Thanks to this, both Rohit and Dhawan will play in England

Indian cricket's rule number three states that the captain should be the best player in the team. If you are better than him, you won't be picked.

Ajinkya Rahane has been India's best player away from home ever since his debut, yes, he is better than the skipper in these conditions.

How can you be better than the captain if you don't get a chance to play? Remember that your captain should be the best player in the team.

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So, one can expect the likes of Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav, Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma to play as a batsman along with the captain when the India team tours England later this year.

Perform and Perish

Rohit will never get dropped from the Test team if this is the case

You have heard the phrase "Perform or Perish". It means, if you do not perform, you will be dropped. But, with the current Indian team, it is the other way around, "Perform and Perish", thanks to rule number two.

The skipper of the team is so kind that he is willing to drop the players who are performing well so that the opposition team can give the world number one Test team some competition.

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He dropped Rahane for the first two Tests and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who was the best batsman and bowler in the first Test, for the second match, and still has Rohit Sharma in the playing XI.

So, who will be dropped for the next Test in Johannesburg? Certainly not Rohit.

Sharmas first, rest next

The Sharmas in the Indian team

Indian cricket team's rule number one: if you are picked in the squad and have Sharma as your surname, you get a place in the team irrespective of how well you play. This is a rule that gained popularity ever since India's current skipper took over the captaincy. The reason behind this is UNKNOWN, yes, seriously unknown.

Remember his first Test as a captain when he picked all three Sharmas in the squad? It had both Rohit and Ishant with Karn Sharma being the third one, and the most surprising part is Karn played in place of R Ashwin in the Test.

So, Ajinkya, the message is clear. If you play the third Test, make sure that your surname is changed at the earliest.

Note: This slide is a work of fiction and the writer didn't mean to hurt any sentiments.

Captain's poor track record with DRS

Even MS Dhoni is not impressed with the Indian captain's DRS calls

Ever since the Indian team started favouring the Decision Review System (DRS), they have had a terrible record. The Indian skipper's track record when it comes to using DRS must be second best from the last with his Bangladesh counterpart Mushfiqur Rahim taking the last position.

Not only with the Decision Review System, the Indian captain has a poor record against any 'DRS' acronym.

By now, the captain should have implemented the DRS successfully, but he failed to do so for the second Test in succession. DRS is very crucial when it comes to Test matches unlike the limited-over formats and it is sad to see the Indian captain failing to use it to perfection.

Oh, yeah, DRS here stands for "Drop Rohit Sharma".