Why the decision to drop Ajinkya Rahane for the current South Africa series is justified

Virat Kohli and the Indian cricket team management have come in for some sharp criticism in the past week for their decision to drop their best overseas batsman, Ajinkya Rahane, from the starting XI for the ongoing Test series against South Africa.

Kohli said that the decision had been taken on current form and I feel it is a reasonable decision. Rahane has been struggling to get runs in the past year or so, with his only major contribution being an 82 against Bangladesh and we can all agree that Bangladesh do not pose a major threat.

Ever since his debut Test back in 2013, it has become a well-known fact that Rahane is a brilliant player with great technical ability. Moreover, he was adding to his repertoire with great work in the slips as well in recent times. It evoked memories of Rahul Dravid, the calmest man in world cricket who also took the most number of catches in Test cricket.

But Rahane had a horrid 2017 season with the bat. He had one good innings (82 against Bangladesh) and the rest of his year was littered with scores in the 20s or 30s. Even in the home series against Australia, when the rest of the Indian batsmen made merry (except the Pune Test), he struggled with his stroke play and was unable to play his trademark long innings. It was very similar to Virat Kohli’s lean patch in England back in 2014.

The end-of-the-year Sri Lanka series was his one great chance to get back into form ahead of the tough away tours in 2018, but Rahane failed in that series too, with similar lack of application problems plaguing him in all the Tests.

There is no doubt that Rahane is a quality player who definitely adds value to the team, whether as a batsman or as a slip fielder. But selecting him on the basis of past laurels seems a bad decision especially for a tour against the second-ranked team in Test cricket. This drop is a bold call and sends out the message that no one’s place is safe in this side and players have to perform consistently if they are to get picked.

Rahane failed despite being given numerous chances with the bat and that is a tough pill for him to swallow. But he needs to go back to the drawing board and analyze and prove himself to the team management to get his place back for upcoming tours.