Featuring in his first match after being axed from the Indian Test team, Ajinkya Rahane bagged a three-ball duck while playing for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy encounter against Goa.

Rahane arrived in the middle with Mumbai reeling at 30/2 but the veteran campaigner failed to bail his team out of trouble. He was trapped plumb in front of the wicket by Lakshya Garg during the 10th over.

In order to earn his spot back in the national side, Rahane needs to play some big knocks. He slammed a century in Mumbai's opening game against Saurashtra and will hope to replicate the same in the second innings versus Goa.

Addressing the media last week, chief selector Chetan Sharma had said that the door isn't closed for dropped senior players. Besides Rahane, the selection committee left out Cheteshwar Puajra, Ishant Sharma, and Wriddhiaman Saha from the squad for the upcoming two-Test series against Sri Lanka.

"We have deliberated a lot on them. We decided not to consider them for the SL series. We asked them to play Ranji. For these two matches, we decided to give chance to others. They can still make a comeback. Ajinkya got a hundred in the Ranji match. It is a bad phase. It is very important for the selectors to manage them," Chetan said.

"We have informed them that Ishant and Wriddhi will not be considered for the two-match Test series against SL. But the door is not closed to them. We have requested all four to play the Ranji Trophy."

Meanwhile, Pujara too failed to make a mark in his first outing after being dropped. Playing for Saurashtra against Odisha, Pujara could only last for six balls and scored 8. He was dismissed by medium-pacer Debabrata Pradhan.

In his previous Ranji Trophy match against Mumbai, Pujara scored a four-ball duck in the first innings while he bounced back with a dazzling knock of 91 in the second essay.