India vs Bangladesh 2017: Virat Kohli settles the Ajinkya Rahane vs Karun Nair debate

What’s the story?

Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli addressed the media one day prior to the start of the one-off Test against Bangladesh in Hyderabad on the 9^th of February. One of the key talking points in the lead-up to the game has been the return of star batsman Ajinkya Rahane and how the team management would accommodate him in the squad.

Kohli kept his cool while addressing the issue, giving his full backing to the 28-year-old from Mumbai.

“I feel one game doesn’t overshadow 2 years of hard work from another player. You need to understand what Jinx has done for the team. He averages over 50 and is probably the most solid batsman in the team in the Test format, so we’ ll look at the issue from that point of view. Karun was stepping into his shoes and what he did was remarkable. As I said, you can’t overlook 2 years from Ajinkya for one Test match. He deserves to walk back into the team when he was fit and that’s my view on the matter”.

The context

Ajinkya Rahane got injured ahead of the 4^th Test against England and allowed Karun Nair to make a case for himself to be included in the squad. In Rahane’s five innings in the series until that point, he had recorded scores of 13, 1, 23, 26 and 0, and thus his injury was rather untimely.

25-year-old Karun Nair would go on to make history in the 5^th and final Test in Chennai where he became only the second Indian ever to score a triple-century.

The combination of the two factors has led people to wonder who would be India’s preferred choice in the future.

The details

Virat Kohli made a foolproof case for Rahane while addressing the issue. He stated the obvious – Rahane has been absolutely indispensable to the team ever since his Test debut in 2013. In his 32 Tests so far, he has amassed nearly 3000 runs with 8 centuries and 9 half-centuries to his name.

Nair, on the hand, had played only two Test innings before his record-breaking 300 and managed 17 runs in total in those outings. Not taking anything away from his incredible achievement, he is still very new to the international scene and will have to be given time before being thrust into the squad.

Justifying the decision for Rahane to walk back into the squad, Kohli would go on to add that it will be the team’s policy in the future to allow injured players to reclaim their places in the squad. If there is an issue about their form after the comeback, only then would the team consider finding a suitable replacement.

Sportskeeda’s take

We sometimes wonder whether it was Virat Kohli or MS Dhoni answering questions during the press conferences. Kohli has shown maturity beyond his years in the recent past and has certainly understood the responsibility that comes with being the voice of the country’s most popular team.

His decision to allow Rahane to walk back into the squad is absolutely justified considering what Rahane has achieved with the Indian cricket team in the past couple of seasons. Time and again, the Mumbai batsman has stood up when it mattered and showed that he has the mettle to bail out his team in testing situations.