Rahane’s comeback to the Test squad not surprising at all

Ajinkya Rahane

The manner in which Ajinkya Rahane has batted in this IPL so far, is atypical of his own style, adapting to the demands of the T20 format, scoring quickly with a wide range of shots that would make T20 legends Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers proud, he has been the talk of the tournament.

Rahane having a strike rate of nearly 200 in T20 was unthinkable before this IPL. It was for this reason that he was not played regularly by Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL 2022, nor was he an automatic choice for the playing 11 in the previous seasons. In fact, his highest strike in an IPL season prior to this was 138.89, when he opened for Rajasthan Royals in 2019.

Rahane’s scores of 61 in 27 balls vs Mumbai Indians, 31 in 19 against Rajasthan Royals, 37 in 20 against Royal Challengers Bangalore, 71 not out in 29 balls against Kolkata Knight Riders, and 9 in 10 balls against Sunrisers Hyderabad are talked about by television commentators even in non-CSK matches.

It came as no surprise on Tuesday when the Board of Control for Cricket in India declared the 15-member Test squad for the World Test Championship final against Australia to be played at The Oval in London from June 7 to 11, and Rahane was in the squad..

With this, Rahane, 34, makes a comeback to the Test squad after being dropped following a miserable Test series in South Africa in 2021-22, in which he managed only 136 runs in six innings, with only one 50 and an average of 22.67.

For a player who has played 82 Tests since his debut against Australia in 2012-13, much more than this meagre tally was expected. Even then, his place in the Indian Test 11 was not secure as barring his match-winning century in Melbourne following the disastrous 36 all out in Adelaide in 2020-21, he went 29 innings without a century.

After his ouster from the Test squad early last year, Rahane’s Test career seemed all but over. Youngsters like Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer were beginning to flourish. Old warhorse Cheteshwar Pujara, who was dropped after South Africa for the two-Test series against Sri Lanka last year but was brought back soon after, was unshakable, as were Rohit Sharma and his Virat Kohli.

Now, with Shreyas out of the reckoning for two weeks at least due to a lower back injury (per the BCCI mail dated April 15), that one slot is up for grabs and Rahane should occupy it in the WTC final.

Prior to the IPL season, Rahane had got his confidence back with meaningful runs in the Ranji Trophy and Duleep Trophy. As Mumbai captain, he led his side to the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 title. As West Zone captain, he led this side and won the Duleep Trophy, and scored an unbeaten 207 against East Zone in one of the matches.

In Ranji Trophy, as captain of Mumbai, he totalled 634 runs at 57.64 with two centuries — both big ones (204 against Hyderabad, and 191 against Assam).

With these runs behind him and a glorious debut for CSK in IPL (CSK is his sixth IPL franchise), Rahane was asked if he was eyeing a comeback into the Test squad.

Rahane maintained that he was taking it one game at a time, staying in the present, and doing the job at hand, which was to win matches for CSK.

Ask Amol Muzumdar, Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy coach, who has known Rahane closely over the years. He was not at all surprised about Rahane’s return to the Test squad.

Muzumdar, a giant in domestic cricket and one who unfortunately did not make it to the Indian team as he was competing against heavyweights like Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman in the 1990s and 2000s, said Rahane’s Test career was far from over.

Muzumdar told moneycontrol.com: “During the Ranji season, we had a Q&A session with Rahane. When I introduced Rahane saying, 'We have with us 82-Test match veteran Ajinkya,’ he immediately cut me and said, ‘82 and more to come.’ When I heard that Ajinkya had been included in the WTC squad, I recalled his exact words. I hope he plays many more and completes 100 Tests.”

The 48-year-old Muzumdar said he used to be with Rahane most evenings during the season, talking cricket, among other things.

“Ajinkya is an unbelievable cricketer and an extremely nice human being, a thorough professional. He was never late for practice, for the (team) bus, or for a match,’’ Muzumdar added.”

Unfortunately, Mumbai could not make it to the knock-outs in the Ranji Trophy, but Rahane’s perseverance bore fruit. Though he was not considered for the four-Test series against Australia, he’s managed to break into the Indian Test team courtesy Iyer’s lower back injury.

As far as captaincy goes, Rahane has led in six Tests previously, all in the absence of Kohli, and won four of them while drawing two. It was under Rahane that India came back from 0-1 in Australia in 2020-21 to win two of the remaining three Tests, and clock one of the most famous Test series wins in Australia.

Rahane’s recent attacking style of batting and his experience will be required in the WTC final, which is India’s second after losing to New Zealand two years ago. Rahane’s new-found attacking style could balance Pujara’s patience, while also allowing the top-order of Rohit, Gill, and Kohli to play their natural game. He could also be India’s answer to aggressive English batting, which has been their style since Brendon McCullum took over as coach last year.

While Rahane’s preparation for the Test will begin after the IPL, the job at hand for him is to win matches for CSK.

He will be looking to make it tough for Shreyas to return to the Test squad. It is runs and only runs that will help Rahane there. And he has 4,931 runs of them in Tests, 69 short of the rare 5,000 milestone.

But Rahane does not have eye records. He bats as per the situation to help his team win.